Once in a Lifetime: Tales of Eeveelution
by Polarissb
Summary: Follow eight different Eevee in very different circumstances on their journey to the moment that changes their life forever. I play with setting, canon/AU, and writing style in different ways for each one (Luna's trainer-owned, Rieka lived millennia ago, Kagehikari's a wild Pokemon, Lucas is in an eon village, etc). Series of oneshots, each ends with my notes about that species.
1. Kagehikari the Umbreon

_These are **entirely separate** stories; they just share a common theme. I'm doing all of them Pokemon POV with fairly normal Pokemon - no anthro, Pokemon High, etc._ _  
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 _My favorites of this series are 1) Lucas the Espeon, 2) Kagehikari the Umbreon, and 3) Rieka the Glaceon._

 _Kagehikari is an Umbreon OC belonging to Faolan-Wolfwings on DeviantArt. You can see his bio there._

 _Standard game/anime world, characters are wild pokemon_

Kagehikari still couldn't believe it. He, an Eevee, had just learned Moonlight. That was unheard of. But then, he'd always been different. Kagehikari had been born a shiny Eevee, mostly covered in silvery fur, but in case that wasn't enough, he had dark paws, dark tail and ear tips and dark blue eyes. His fur was where he'd gotten his name from – Kage "shadow" and Hikari "light," referring to his unusual coloration. Kagehikari liked his unique coat, but sometimes it attracted more attention than he wanted. Normal Eevee could stay out of sight anywhere they could find a shadow and a little cover, but anyone who was looking could find him immediately.

He'd learned long ago not to even bother. As a shiny Eevee, he stuck out in the woods, on the rocks, and virtually wherever he went. The one time he did feel at home with his surroundings was twilight: that time when the sun was just coming up or just going down and the sunlight and shadows mixed everywhere. Twilight was his time.

Kagehikari broke off his thoughts, looking up again at the moon in wonder. It was nearly full, but still – only Umbreon were supposed to be able to draw on its power. Maybe he was destined to be one. _I've got to get back home_. It _was_ late; Kagehikari had been in the training circle for hours, trying to pull off a Swift attack, which he found particularly tricky, and he'd exhausted all his energy in the process. If he was being honest with himself, he'd overdone it. It was just that a lot of the other Eevee his age in the area had already mastered the move, and he didn't want to be unique in that way too, not when he already stood out so much. He could produce the glowing yellow stars that made up the attack, but instead of following his gaze like they were supposed to, they spiraled out of control nearly every time, impacting the ground, trees, rocks, and everything he _wasn't_ trying to hit.

When darkness had fallen, he'd been about to give up for the night and go home, but a spark of determination flared up and he'd decided to give it one last go. Reaching for the last of his energy, Kagehikari had started the attack again – and then he ran dry, and the Swift stars started fizzling out. He threw everything he had into completing the attack, but it was useless. He strained anyway, and as the last star winked out, something else happened. The light from the newly risen moon had suddenly turned almost liquid, and he felt a strange warmth pouring into him, restoring his strength. Not all of it, but suddenly Kagehikari wasn't panting and exhausted anymore. With a quick exertion, he summoned more Swift stars, which winked into a miniature constellation around him. Excited by his discovery, though, he let them fade again. His new move was way better. _I can't wait to tell Mother and Father_. He left the training circle and ran home, winding around familiar branches and logs on the path to his den.

"Kage, how are you? It's getting late," Father greeted him. Father was a Jolteon, and never called him by his full name. He said it was too long to say all the time, so he alternated between Kage and Hikari, depending on his mood and sometimes the time of day. Father was the more easygoing of his parents; Mother, a Leafeon, was more stern and usually called him Son. Kagehikari knew his parents loved him, though.

"Where have you been, son?" Mother added.

Kagehikari dipped his head respectfully to his parents. "I was out training." Then his excitement broke through. "You won't _believe_ what just happened!"

"Really?" Father raised his eyebrows, smiling a little.

Kagehikari nodded earnestly. "I was practicing my Swift move. I still can't get it right," he added sheepishly, "but something else happened. Just a few minutes ago… I used Moonlight."

Father's brows cranked up another notch. "Really."

Mother narrowed her green eyes at him. "You're serious." It wasn't a question, but Kagehikari nodded again.

Father came over to him. "That's… amazing, Hikari. I'm proud of you." Mother gave Kagehikari a nod and a rare smile.

"What is it?" he asked Mother. "You look like you thought this would happen."

"Kagehikari." Mother looked him in the eye, addressing him formally. "We always knew you were special. Did I expect this? No. Did I expect something _like_ this?" She paused, nodding to herself. "I always believed in you."

Kagehikari felt warm all over. Mother didn't give praise lightly. Then he yawned. It was getting really late.

"It looks like you're ready to go to sleep, Kage." Father looked at him fondly. "First, though… would you mind showing us your new move?"

The shiny Eevee nodded. "I'll try." He went outside, walking between Mother and Father and thinking over his first, accidental use of Moonlight. He concentrated on the memory, trying to capture that feeling again. It wasn't hard; as soon as he stepped out of the shadows, he could feel something in the back of his mind that hadn't been there before. Kagehikari took a deep breath, focusing on the sensation as he'd been taught to, drawing on his energy and linking it to the moonglow he felt in his mind. As his energy started to flow, it happened again: the moonlight turned liquid around him, soaking into his skin and fur and giving him strength. It didn't make so much of a difference as the first time, as he wasn't drained now, but he stood there, drinking the light in. Father came around in front of him, smiling again.

"Your eyes. They're glowing blue." He seemed pleased.

Still focusing, Kagehikari nodded, then let out his breath, releasing his energy again. "Really? Wow."

Mother approached and gave him a lick on the top of his head. "I'm proud of you, son."

"Thanks, Mother."

The three went back into their den, and Kagehikari curled up to sleep. Mother, always standing watch, stationed herself off to the side of the entrance where she would be ready to ambush any potential attacker. Before he took his place, Father came over to ruffle his son's fur with a friendly paw. "Good night, Kage."

Kagehikari yawned again. "Good night, Father."

The next day, Kagehikari rose and ate, then told his parents he was headed to the training circle again. They always insisted that he tell them where he was going; a short time after his birth, a Trainer had seen him and done everything she could to capture the young Eevee. Father had taken Kagehikari and darted away, outpacing everything the Trainer had sent after him, while Mother had taken it upon herself to try to hold them off, almost getting captured herself in the attempt. She probably would have been, but Father had deposited him in a thick bush and returned to help, and together they had managed to fend off the Trainer. Kagehikari himself had only fuzzy memories of the event, but he knew that ever since then Mother had trained relentlessly. Her battle style now was a lethal dance of parries and counterstrokes with her razor-edged leaves. Maybe that was why her personality was so hard.

After the attack, Kagehikari knew, his parents had deserted their old den, taking their young son and setting out for the deep forest where Trainers rarely came. In a world where Trainers sought powerful and unique Pokémon, Kagehikari knew he would always be in danger, especially with his silvery coat making him easy to find. Mother and Father didn't mind him being by himself, as long as they knew where he was and he wasn't going far. He'd only seen Trainers twice this deep in the forest, and he'd always stayed far away from them.

He headed for the training circle, determined to master using Swift today. When he arrived, though, his heart sank. Kuraihono was there. The Umbreon had evolved only a few weeks ago, but he was unbearably superior about it. Kuraihono had always been a loner, though he seemed to seek recognition and even adoration. Kagehikari was one of his main targets to pick on, since the shiny Eevee had a hard time fitting in. Most of the Pokémon around were ambivalent towards him, but not Kuraihono. If Kagehikari started practicing his Swift attack with Kuraihono around, he was asking to be mocked and ridiculed.

As he hesitated on the path, Kuraihono called out to him. "What are you doing standing there? Are you scared or something?" Kagehikari hesitated a moment longer, but then he thought of something that might actually impress the Umbreon. Starting into the training circle, he called out a greeting.

"Hi, Kuraihono."

That caught the Umbreon off guard. "Uh, what?"

"I think maybe I'm going to evolve into an Umbreon. Like you," he added helpfully.

Kuraihono reacted as he'd hoped. "Really… why?"

"Because… I learned Moonlight last night."

Kuraihono just stared at him. "Eevee can't learn Moonlight," he protested.

Kagehikari nodded. "I know. I think it means I'm meant to be an Umbreon."

"You're lying." The Umbreon's surprise turned into a hostile glare. "Prove it."

"I can't," Kagehikari pointed out. "The sun's up."

"Well then, meet me here tonight. And you'd better show up." Kuraihono turned and whisked away into the trees.

Kagehikari sighed. That hadn't gone at all how he'd wanted. He'd hoped the revelation that he had learned Moonlight would ease the tensions with the Umbreon, but instead they were higher than ever, and he had a sneaking suspicion that demonstrating Moonlight when night came would only make things worse. The only alternatives were to not use Moonlight or not meet the Umbreon at all, either of which would mean even more abuse. He could tell his parents too, but that felt like giving in and showing fear, which someone like Kuraihono would take advantage of later.

The only bright spot in the mess was that the training circle was now empty of Kuraihono, which meant Kagehikari would get to train in peace after all. _All right._ He ran through the steps in his mind. _First, focus your energy outward. Bring it around you and give it form. Take hold of it in your mind, and see where you want it to go._ Kagehikari took a deep breath and let it out, beginning his first Swift attack.

When Kagehikari took a break at midmorning, he was pleased with the progress he'd made. As long as he could maintain his focus, the Swift stars now went where he wanted them to, lancing out and converging on whatever he chose with enough force to crack a few of the dead branches he was using as targets. He trotted out of the training circle, giving himself a shake as he went to find a berry to eat to replenish his strength.

The first plant proved to be empty. Kagehikari wasn't surprised; it was his favorite and he had noticed the number of ripe berries diminishing over the last few days, so he shrugged and turned toward another he knew was nearby.

While he was eating, Miryokuhana appeared from between the trees. A Sylveon, she was as recently evolved as Kuraihono was. He was a lot happier to see her, though. She had been friendlier to him than most and had come to his defense once when Kuraihono had been picking on him. She didn't like the Umbreon, even when they had all been Eevee.

"Hi, Miryokuhana."

The Sylveon nodded. "Good morning, Kagehikari. What are you doing?"

"I've been training."

Miryokuhana wrinkled her nose at this. "Again? It seems like that's what you're _always_ doing."

Kagehikari had to admit it was true. When he was younger, Mother had insisted on it and trained him personally, and when he had gotten older it had been a necessity to be strong in order to earn the respect of his peers, who otherwise tended to treat him as nothing but a prettyboy. _I don't act like that, though, do I?_ He turned this thoughts back to the moment. "Yeah, I guess so." He thought for a moment, looking for an explanation. "I want to evolve soon."

The Sylveon nodded again, sagely. "Evolution is great," she said, flourishing her feelers in the sunlight. With that, she picked her way over to the plant and snagged a berry before turning to leave. Kagehikari felt a little disappointed; he'd hoped Miryokuhana would stay, but he couldn't just _say_ that. Before he'd thought of something better, she was already gone.

The shiny Eevee gave another philosophical shrug. There wasn't anything he could do about it now. He finished eating and headed back for the training circle, planning to try his new skills out on a moving target.

Once he got there, Kagehikari realized he didn't have any moving targets. Unsure what else to do, he hit a tree, and was unexpectedly rewarded with a leaf spiraling lazily down from a branch. Quickly, he gathered his energy again, forming a new set of stars and aiming them at the leaf. One actually hit, but the rest passed in the leaf's wake, shooting off into the trees at different angles as they started, too slowly, to curve back around. There was a cascade of rustling as they punched into brush and leaves before running out of energy. He hissed through his teeth in frustration. Hitting moving targets was the whole _point_ of Swift. The leaf hadn't even been moving that fast.

"Hey, Hikari. How are things going?" It was Father, coming down the path from the den to see him.

Kagehikari paused, thinking. "Okay, I guess. I'm trying to learn how to use Swift on moving targets." He sighed. "But it's not going too well."

Father looked around at the clearing, which was completely stationary. "I can help with that, if you'd like."

"What do you mean?" the Eevee asked, puzzled.

"Well, I _have_ done this kind of thing once or twice. And I'm about as moving as targets get." Father chuckled a little at his joke.

"Wait," Kagehikari said, suddenly nervous. "You mean attack _you_?"

Father nodded. "That's what I said, Hikari."

"But…" That was as far as he got before Father interrupted him.

"I'll be fine. I am your father, you know. And this is training, so I'll allow it. Come on." Father started circling Kagehikari, who was standing in the middle. "Let's see what you can do." Kagehikari nodded, preparing another Swift attack. As soon as he did, the Jolteon broke into an easy lope. "We'll start simple." He passed behind the shiny Eevee, and Kagehikari waited for him to come back around so he could get a clear shot. Once Father was in front of him again, he released the attack, sending the stars launching out. They all hit, though not as neatly as he'd hoped. Father came to a halt and shook himself. "Not bad. Let's try a little faster now."

He broke into a run, circling around the Eevee again. _That's a_ lot _faster_ , Kagehikari thought. He launched another Swift attack. Only a few stars hit Father's hindquarters this time; the rest sprayed off into the trees like before.

Father slowed to a stop. "All right. I think I know what your problem is, Hikari. You're going too fast. Swift isn't supposed to be impossible to dodge, it's supposed to be impossible to _escape_. Think less speed, more agility. If you can bring the stars around, then dodging doesn't do much good, because your opponent still has to worry about them coming back and hitting again." To demonstrate, Father performed his own Swift attack. Kagehikari watched as the shooting stars twisted and wove between branches to strike a single leaf high on the tree. "That's what you need to be able to do."

Kagehikari thought for a moment. "But what if I make them even faster? Too fast to dodge?"

Father laughed. "Try it, Kage."

Kagehikari immediately knew he'd made a mistake, but he started another attack. As he did, he felt his fur start to stand on end. Father's was crackling. He launched the Swift attack, the stars elongating into streaks of light this time. Father still hadn't moved. Right before they hit, he suddenly blurred to the side and they streaked harmlessly through the space he had been occupying.

"I don't see how making them slower would help with that," Kagehikari complained. "I wouldn't ever be able to hit you anyway."

Father shook his head. "No, Hikari, I can't keep that speed up for long. Anyway, if you ever take someone on who's as fast as I am, your problem won't be hitting them, it'll be them hitting you.

"Anyway, that's one reason for agility. Here's another one." He dashed around the clearing. Kagehikari wasn't sure where or when Father stopped, but he suddenly found himself standing in the middle of a circle of Jolteon. A voice came from behind him. "So then, which one?" From the side, another copy of Father asked, "Or can you hit us all with one attack?" From directly in front, Swift stars surrounded a Jolteon Kagehikari realized must be the real one. They whirled through the circle, tearing through each copy in turn. When they got back around to him, Father directed them over his shoulder into a rock. "That's another reason to make them agile, Kage. Your opponents can make as many fakes as they want, but you'll find the real one pretty quickly like this." Kagehikari nodded understanding.

"All right. Here's what I want you to do first. See that rock there? I want you to hit behind it. Don't worry about power or speed. Just get them there."

Kagehikari nodded again, focusing on what he had to do. When he sent the stars out again, they were a lot slower, traveling at about his own running speed. He aimed them to the side at first, but then switched targets. The stars responded much more sharply now, swerving around and hitting the back of the rock. Father nodded approvingly. "Good. Next, I want you to aim at me again. I'm going to dodge, so just keep bringing them around. Once you're comfortable with that, we can start working on speed and power." Kagehikari complied, sending more stars dancing through loop after loop as Father twisted nimbly out of the way over and over again.

As they went on, Kagehikari was grateful Father had come. The Jolteon had a lot of experience, and Kagehikari knew he wouldn't be able to master this move nearly as quickly or well on his own as he was doing under Father's guidance.

They finished training after midday, and Kagehikari was a lot more confident with using Swift now. He was panting a little from all the effort. Father barely seemed tired at all, even though he'd done a lot more moving around than Kagehikari had. They went together to drink at a spring, got something to eat, and then went back to the den to rest.

"Where's Mother?" Kagehikari asked.

"Off training. You know how she is. I decided to come see if you needed help with anything instead."

Kagehikari rubbed his head against Father's shoulder. "Thanks, Father."

"You're welcome, Hikari."

Kagehikari didn't do much else that day. He went out into the forest a short distance and tried to enjoy himself, but mostly he was worried about meeting that night with Kuraihono. He couldn't see any way out of it, and he spent the rest of the afternoon with worry gnawing at him. He thought about seeking out some of the other Eevee in their territory, but he didn't want to talk about it either, or bring up the fact that he could use Moonlight now. Telling Kuraihono had been a mistake; he didn't want anyone else hearing about it.

He put it off for as long as possible, but eventually all the light had drained from the sky and he didn't have any other excuse. With a sigh, Kagehikari heaved himself up and made his way to the training circle. He'd half hoped the Umbreon wouldn't be there, but as soon as he emerged from the bushes he could see a set of glowing yellow rings in the shadows.

Kuraihono slowly got up, stretching. "So, you actually came. I was starting to wonder."

Kagehikari sighed. "Kuraihono… what do you want?"

"You were lying earlier. But I'll give you one chance. Either admit it now… or prove me wrong."

There it was: the choice he'd been pondering all afternoon. He could walk away, and endure Kuraihono's ridicule, which might spread to others, or he could stand up for himself against the Umbreon and chance making an enemy – well, more of an enemy. When he put it that way, the choice was simple.

He faced Kuraihono. "All right," he said quietly, although his heart was in his throat. It was time to prove himself, and while he'd done it the night before, there was a flutter of worry in his stomach that the moon wouldn't respond to him this time. He swallowed his fear. _I can do this_. Kagehikari forced himself to concentrate, finding the feeling of the moonlight again in his mind and focusing his energy into it. He took a deep breath and let it flow, and his heart leapt as the light turned liquid around him again. Remembering what Father had said last night, he turned so that the Umbreon could clearly see his glowing eyes. "I wasn't lying."

For the first time he could remember, Kagehikari saw the Umbreon lose his cool. Even though he knew there would be consequences, he couldn't help enjoying that moment. "That's… that's impossible," Kuraihono spluttered.

Kagehikari smiled. "You're wrong." He held the Umbreon's gaze for a few more seconds, then turned and let the power fade. Unfortunately, this seemed to embolden Kuraihono.

"You know what I think? I think you're just looking for attention. Like you always are." He started advancing, crowding Kagehikari against some of the large rocks. "You should have evolved before trying that." The black Pokémon spat the next word. " _Eevee._ " He brought a paw back to slash at Kagehikari, and the shiny Eevee could see droplets of poison dampening the Umbreon's fur in the moonlight. Kuraihono was serious.

He dodged to the side, barely twisting out of the way, and darted into the trees with the Umbreon hot on his heels. After a few moments, he realized he was headed away from his den and safety. It was too late to change that now, though; trying to turn would put him in Kuraihono's range. He was barely ahead of the Umbreon as it was. As he threaded through the trees, Kagehikari stayed in the moonlight as much as he could. Kuraihono could see just as well in the dark anyway, so being able to see where he was going mattered more. He pelted through dappled patches of moonlight and tree-shadow, sliding under fallen logs, running through the undergrowth, and doing everything he could to throw off his pursuer. He even tried using Double Team; he'd never tried the move while running at speed before, but he was able to make a single copy, which he sent running off to the side when he swerved around a rock. Kuraihono turned to intercept it, but it only took a few seconds for him to see through ruse, and soon the Eevee was fighting to maintain the lead he'd gotten.

He emerged from the trees near a stream. To his surprise, he saw the pink-and-white shape of a Sylveon at the water's edge, highlighted by the moon's glow. Miryokuhana.

She looked up at him in surprise. "Kagehikari? What are you–" He didn't have breath to answer, but she broke off her question as Kuraihono emerged from the woods in pursuit. She stepped into the Umbreon's path, blocking him, and Kagehikari, out of breath and sensing a chance for things to stop here, came to a halt as well. Her feelers spread outwards; suddenly Kagehikari found it easier to breathe, and his pounding heart slowed down. "What's going on here?" she asked, addressing the Umbreon this time.

Kuraihono's voice didn't have the same snarl as it had before either, but he sneered, "Out of my way. This doesn't involve you – it's a matter for _real_ Pokémon."

The calm shattered. " _What_ did you just say?" Miryokuhana spat, fury in her eyes. The entire clearing started to brighten. "You're not the only one who can draw on the moon's power, Kuraihono. And I… am _VERY… MUCH…_ a real Pokémon."

Kagehikari had been watching the entire scene, but now his mind snapped back into gear. He needed to get out, _now_. Without giving any outward sign that might alert his nemesis, Kagehikari focused his energy again, channeling it into a burst of speed. The sounds around him became muted as everything fell into slow motion, and Kagehikari wheeled around and tore into the bushes as the clearing behind him exploded into white light.

As his Quick Attack wore off, Kagehikari swiveled his ears back to listen. If he was lucky, there wouldn't be anyone following him now. After a few moments, though, he could make out the sound of labored breath and at least one set of paws pounding through the forest behind him. At least Miryokuhana's intervention had given him a few moments to catch his breath. Kagehikari kept on running, vaguely aware that the area had turned unfamiliar.

Compounding his troubles, there was a sudden rustling from a bush beside him, and Kagehikari was unexpectedly blindsided by a dark shape about his size. He picked himself up off the ground to find a Poochyena growling aggressively at him, and his heart sank. _That's why– I must be outside Eon territory now. Could tonight get any worse?_

Answering his question, Kuraihono burst out of the trees where he had just been, with an angry Sylveon on his heels. Acting quickly, Kagehikari focused his energy into a Swift attack, sending the stars arcing into the Umbreon's flank from the side and throwing off his balance. Almost in the same moment, the Poochyena, evidently deciding that the shiny Eevee was a lesser threat, switched targets and launched himself on Miryokuhana, viciously snapping and clawing at her. She was caught off guard and took a few nasty scratches and cuts before she could disentangle herself, but then she retaliated with a scream that tore at Kagehikari's ears even though he wasn't in its path. The Poochyena caught the full blast of it and fell back, stunned, and a few moments later there was a dull thud from behind it as something fell out of a tree.

As Miryokuhana took stock of her wounds, Kuraihono picked himself up off the ground, murder in his eyes. At the same moment, a Spinda came staggering out of the bushes, paws clamped over its ears. It looked around unsteadily at the group, then bared its teeth. _What's going on here? This has to be the most insane battle of all time,_ Kagehikari thought. Judging by how the two Eons had stopped, he wasn't the only one asking that question. He took a cautious step back, and the silence broke as everyone went into action again. Kagehikari launched himself at Kuraihono in another Quick Attack, hoping to forestall the Umbreon's next move, and he heard Miryokuhana let out a frustrated snarl. _I got in the way of her attack,_ he realized, regretting his mistake. _She could probably do this a lot better than I can; she's a Sylveon, so she'd have an advantage here_.

As his attack ended, Kagehikari twisted away from the Umbreon's reach. Instead of getting up and charging him, though, Kuraihono released a Dark Pulse. This one wasn't focused; it spread out in a wave, hitting everyone. Kagehikari could feel the hate in the attack, and it made him shiver a little. Then the Spinda was on him from the other side. He managed to dodge its first punch, but then it tripped him, catching him in the head with the other clenched paw as he fell. On the ground, he saw Kuraihono dodge one of Miryokuhana's Moonblasts by slipping behind a tree. The Poochyena was getting up too, apparently roused by the Umbreon's Dark Pulse. Spinda and Poochyena launched themselves at one another, leaving Kagehikari alone. In the moment of stillness, he could feel a burning sensation all along his side and forehead. _Right, the poison on Kuraihono's fur. I forgot about that_.

Kagehikari tried to move and saw stars. Instead of trying again, he drew inspiration from it and started a Swift attack from where he lay on the ground, aiming at the Umbreon, who was trying to simultaneously advance on him and stay out of Miryokuhana's line of sight as the Sylveon also moved in. He launched the stars in another arc, intending to drive Kuraihono out of the shadows with them, but then the Poochyena came out of nowhere, spinning out of control through the air and landing on top of him, making Kagehikari lose control of the attack. The stars went into a wild spray; some of them hit Kuraihono, but the rest shot past and struck Miryokuhana. _Oh no!_

The Sylveon whirled, glaring at him. "What was that for? I stood up for you! I protected you, and _this_ is how you react?" She hissed. "Now I know why you don't make friends." The trees lightened around her as she prepared another Moonblast. Kagehikari staggered to his paws. No chance to dodge, no chance to do anything to evade the attack. To the side, Kuraihono's rings were going dark as the Umbreon started a second Dark Pulse. Both the Poochyena and Spinda had helpfully deserted the line of fire. _Only one thing I can do now; hopefully I can survive this. Maybe_. Kagehikari closed his eyes and used Moonlight again, drawing strength from the moon as the furious Sylveon and Umbreon unleashed their attacks. It was Miryokuhana's he regretted. _I didn't mean to, Miryokuhana. I never wanted to hurt you_. He gritted his teeth as the combined light and dark attacks slammed into him.

He could feel the line – right across his shoulder and down his foreleg – where the two attacks met and light changed to darkness. The moonlight gave him a little protection, but both energies blasted through him, and he fell as the light faded. To his surprise, things didn't go dark; light surged again, and his energy suddenly exploded from a spark into a fire, running through his whole body. He lifted a forepaw and saw it was glowing white. Even as he watched, his leg lengthened and expanded, and he could feel his fur scrape across the ground as his body grew larger. _I'm evolving!_ Kagehikari felt his full strength return, and more besides. The main thing he noticed, though, was a calm that fell over him. Even his heart rate slowed.

The light faded, and to his surprise, darkness again failed to return. _What have I evolved into?_ He looked again at his foreleg from where he lay on the ground. His paw was white. _Well, that doesn't help at all._ Rising to his paws, everyone around him forgotten, Kagehikari craned his head around, looking across his body. His tail was also tipped in white, but the curved shape and ring around it were unmistakable.

In his heart, Kagehikari had known he would evolve into an Umbreon. He had learned Moonlight as an Eevee, so how could he be anything else? It also explained how he could see so clearly now. For a moment, he just stood there, enjoying his new feeling of strength and confidence. His evolution had surprised everyone into stillness.

Except Kuraihono.

The Umbreon moved in stealthily and launched himself on Miryokuhana, catching her off-guard and dragging her into the shadows where she wouldn't be able to see him or use Moonblast again. Icy claws gripped Kagehikari's heart, and he broke into a sprint, running faster than had ever been possible for him before. He got his teeth into Kuraihono's neck scruff and pulled him off the Sylveon, throwing the other Umbreon to the ground. Kuraihono was still bigger than he was, but Kagehikari hadn't spent all that time training for nothing. He backed away into the light, taunting the older Pokémon. "Can't even beat an Eevee properly, can you, Kuraihono? Some Umbreon you make."

Kuraihono let out a feral growl, taking the bait and leaving the Sylveon to get up as he charged the smaller Umbreon. Kagehikari was ready for him, sidestepping, grabbing him again in his teeth, and whirling to send his opponent tumbling into the Spinda, who obliged by putting two punches into Kuraihono's head as he passed. Given that it couldn't even walk straight, he had no idea how the Spinda punched so accurately. The older Umbreon tried to get up again. Kagehikari concentrated, and a constellation of Swift stars formed around him, silvery now and brighter than ever before. The points of light elongated into streaks, lancing into Kuraihono and throwing the Umbreon to the ground for the third time.

The Poochyena took advantage of his distraction, and Kagehikari found himself fending off the dog Pokémon as Kuraihono shakily lifted himself to his paws again.

Miryokuhana limped back into the clear area again, glowing as she angled purposefully towards the middle of everything. Kagehikari didn't think she was aiming for him, but he got the impression that she didn't care if he got caught in the blast of whatever she was about to do. He turned, repelling the Poochyena with a kick, and used Moonlight for the third time that night, bracing for her attack.

The Sylveon flashed white, lighting up the forest again; there was no sound, no force, but the power of the attack staggered Kagehikari and partially blinded him. _Dazzling Gleam_ , he realized. _It's a Fairy attack, so I'm weak to it now, too_. He was still up, though, which was more than could be said for Kuraihono and the Poochyena, who had both finally collapsed. The Spinda had taken the attack well, too. It looked around at the two fallen Dark-types, its animosity gone, then started trundling back to its tree. Unexpectedly, a Teddiursa lunged out of a bush, hurling itself on the hurt Spinda, who went down flailing. Kagehikari felt sorry for it; after all, it had been dragged into this fight. He stepped in, pulling the Teddiursa off, knocking it roundly around the head, and growling in its face until it turned tail and left them alone. The Spinda started up its tree, and Kagehikari turned back to see Miryokuhana gasping in pain.

He ran to her. "What's wrong?"

"My leg… it feels like it's on fire!"

Kagehikari looked. There was a nasty dark mark from the back of her neck all the way down her left shoulder and foreleg. "Poison," he breathed. "Kuraihono was covered in it. Let me help you."

"There isn't really anything you can do," she said.

"Actually, there is. just relax." He came close, closer than he'd ever been to the Sylveon… No, he couldn't worry about that now. "Hold still," he soothed, licking at the poisoned area.

Miryokuhana stiffened. "Don't!"

"It's all right," he assured her between licks. "It's Umbreon poison, and I'm an Umbreon now, so I should be immune to it." He wasn't entirely sure about that, but it didn't seem to be burning his mouth or throat, so he pressed on, working his way to her shoulder. Beneath his tongue, he could feel the Sylveon finally start to relax. He kept on until he had cleaned away all the poison he could. "I'm sorry about hitting you earlier," he said when he'd finished. "It was an accident. Really. I'd never do anything to hurt you."

She nodded. "I believe you. I'm sorry I got so angry; I hope I didn't hurt you badly."

Kagehikari pushed that aside. "I'm fine. What about you?"

"It still hurts… but it's not burning any more. Thank you." Miryokuhana looked him in the eye. "Poison is really bad for fairy Pokémon. I don't know what I would have done."

"I'm glad I'm here, then." Kagehikari wanted to give her a friendly lick behind the ear, but he wasn't sure it would be all right. He settled for giving the Sylveon a quick touch with his nose.

She sighed. "Thanks, Kagehikari." She stirred. "All right. Let's see if I can stand." The Sylveon struggled to her paws again, and Kagehikari watched worriedly as her injured leg trembled when she put weight on it. She made it, though, and he relaxed a little as she took a few experimental steps. "I think I can make it to my den all right."

"I'll go with you," he offered. A warm feeling came over him as the Sylveon gave him a look of gratitude. They set off; Kagehikari stayed on Miryokuhana's left side, not sure what he would do, but he hoped he could catch her if she stumbled.

They made it back to her den without incident, although she had a hard time getting over some rocks. "I'll be all right from here," she told him when they arrived.

"You're sure?" he asked, and got a nod in response.

"All right… I'll come check on you in the morning, though."

"Thanks, Kagehikari," the Sylveon said. Then she laughed. "Kagehikari, huh?"

"What?" he asked, wondering what she found funny.

"Your parents sure called that one."

He looked himself over. An Umbreon with white rings, paws, and tail… "Yeah, I guess you're right," he replied, with a laugh of his own. She looked at him one more time, then turned and limped into her den. "I'll come back tomorrow," he promised again.

"Thank you. Good night."

"Good night, Miryokuhana."

He turned toward home, still worried about the Sylveon. As he neared his family's den, though, another worry crept in. What would his parents do when a strange Umbreon showed up? Father would probably be all right, but if Mother saw him first, he might have to do his explaining from the ground, with a leaf at his throat.

With that in mind, it was probably better to see his parents before they saw him. That would be easier now, though; his night vision was far better than anyone else's now. The feeling of calm and quiet that had fallen over him when he evolved was still there too, and he found it easy to move almost noiselessly through the trees and bushes. The night felt like a friend.

Kagehikari listened as he moved closer to the den. Nothing. He arrived to find it empty. Mother and Father must be out searching for him. He'd never been gone at night for this long before; they had to be worried. _And I_ did _get chased about halfway across the forest and ended up in a fight with five other Pokémon… so maybe they're right_.

He left the den behind, moving quickly into the shadows; he was still a little apprehensive about suddenly running into Mother. Moving away from the den, he increased his pace and started tracing a circle he hoped would let him catch up to one of his parents. It took longer than he expected, but then he made out the sound of paws pattering hurriedly, then stopping for a few seconds. Listening. He stopped too, then realized that if it was Mother, he didn't want to surprise her. The next time the steps stopped, Kagehikari took a few more himself, making them deliberately clumsy. Some instinct told him the other Pokémon was now aware of him.

A few moments later, a voice came uncertainly through the trees. "Son?"

Kagehikari unexpectedly had to blink away a tear. "I'm here, Mother." He started making his way toward her voice, and then something occurred to him. "I evolved, by the way, so don't… you know." He could see her outline through the bushes now. When he emerged, he heard her gasp. "I'm an Umbreon now."

"What happened tonight?"

Kagehikari sighed. "It's a long story."

She nodded, regaining control. "Let's find Kaminarikin and you can tell it once."

Mother led him unerringly to another area where Father was looking around. He turned as they approached. "Kage, is that really you?" Kagehikari nodded, and he let out a sigh. "We were worried about you. But at least you're safe." He turned back to the den, and they followed. "What happened tonight?"

"Well, Kuraihono was waiting for me this morning," Kagehikari began. "I ended up telling him I could use Moonlight, and he got mad at me and told me I had to prove it tonight. And when I did, he attacked me and I ran."

Father made a disgusted noise in his throat. "Typical. Of him, not you," he hastened to assure the shiny Umbreon. "If he were our son…" he trailed off. "Sorry. Go on."

Kagehikari thought back some more. "I ran into Miryokuhana. She tried to stop things, but then Kuraihono insulted her, and _she_ attacked _him_. I ran again, but he still chased me. I left Eevee territory by accident –" he winced as Father looked sharply at him "–and then a Poochyena attacked me. One of Miryokuhana's attacks knocked a Spinda out of a tree. Everything went crazy after that." He paused, considering how to describe the next part; he didn't want to talk about how he'd hit Miryokuhana. "I had to use Moonlight again when I got attacked – and then I evolved."

Father nodded, not looking at him. "And then?"

"Well, after that the battle was almost over. Everyone was either knocked out or ran off, except Miryokuhana. And Kuraihono had gotten poison on her – he was covered in it – so she was in bad shape. I did what I could for her, and made sure she got back to her den okay. That's part of why it took me so long to get back."

"Is she all right?" Mother asked him.

"I think so. I'm going to check on her tomorrow morning."

"Good." Mother gave him a sidelong glance. "You like her."

"What? I didn't say that!" Kagehikari protested.

Mother nodded in satisfaction. "I was right. No, don't be embarrassed. It's a good thing. I'm happy for you." She didn't quite look it, though.

Father added, "Now that you've evolved, it's time for you to start making a life for yourself. You can stay with us for a while, but you'll need to find a place for your own den and your own family. Maybe Miryokuhana will be part of that." Kagehikari couldn't deny that he hoped so.

"Will I still see you?" he asked, worried.

"Of course, Hikari. You're hard to miss, you know – not every Umbreon has a spiral on their head."

Kagehikari gasped in surprise. "I have a _spiral_ on my head?" Father laughed a little and nodded, and Kagehikari resolved to find a pool of water as soon as possible so he could see exactly what he looked like now.

They were back to their den now, and Kagehikari lay down where he usually did, noting absently how clear everything looked. As Mother and Father settled down as well, he noticed that things did seem a little crowded. He wouldn't be able to stay long. _Tomorrow's going to be a big day_ , he thought with a yawn. Before he fell asleep, he heard Father's voice again. "Kage?"

"Yes?"

"We're proud of you. I hope you know that."

"Thanks, Father. I love you."

"We love you too, Kage. Goodnight."

 **Polarissb's Notes on Umbreon:**

 _Umbreon are dark-types, but their primary affinity is to moonlight. They can absorb energy from the moon and use it to heal or replenish their strength. Additionally, they can sense the position of the moon, even when it's out of sight, and use this to tell whether they are above or below ground. Umbreon in general tend to have calm dispositions (though not always); they are very resilient (both mentally and physically) and can shrug off far worse attacks than most Pokemon. While they can release poison through their pores, this only happens when they are in an extremely agitated or threatened state._

 _Like Espeon, an Eevee's evolution into Umbreon is triggered by emotion. When they first reach evolutionary age, the emotional threshold is very high; however, as their energy levels continue to rise, their forms become more unstable until any emotional moment can trigger evolution. Umbreon and Espeon are relatively rare forms, as Eevee will normally evolve into something else before reaching that threshold._

 _Umbreon can access dark-type moves by tapping into their emotions. Repeated use of these attacks, however, can cause emotional problems and erratic behavior, including limiting their ability to use moonlight. Many Umbreon avoid using these powers, relying on their other abilities and attacks to outlast opponents unless necessary._


	2. Rieka the Glaceon

_Rieka is an OC belonging to Kamzez97 on Deviantart. You can find her bio there._

 _AU - ancient past, no pokemon apart from Reika and a few other eevee_

Rieka huddled in the den, waiting for her parents to come back. It was only a little while ago that she'd gotten old enough to venture out with them, and she still felt safest inside. Snowy wind whirled outside, but the cold didn't penetrate very far past the cave's small entrance. Food had been scarce, so both Father and Mother were out foraging and hunting. They'd gone out into the blizzard that morning. They would be back. They always were. Rieka still felt lonely.

Once or twice, she padded to the cave entrance and poked her face out into the cold, searching for the brown and cream pelts of her parents. Nothing so far. It wasn't until the snow stopped and the sky cleared that they returned. The deep snow hid the sounds of paws until they were just outside the den; Rieka pricked her ears in recognition and bound to her paws from where she'd been laying. She ran to the entrance and took a hesitant step into the snow. She was still unused to going out. A whimper of happiness escaped her as Mother stepped inside, followed by Father.

Her parents had brought back a laden branch off a bush and a rabbit. Rieka turned to the rabbit first, eating what she could and leaving the rest for her parents. She tore one of the frozen berries off the branch and crunched down on it. It started to melt as she chewed it into smaller pieces.

Once she was done, Rieka stepped aside respectfully and curled her tail around her paws while her parents finished the rest of what they'd brought back. They all lay down after that. Winter was long and cold; there was no point in wasting energy. They all lay together for warmth, with Rieka in the middle.

Unease woke her. All three stirred at once; nothing was obviously wrong, but instinct ran deeper than that. Father picked his way to the entrance and bristled, the fur rising on his shoulders and tail. Soon after, they could all hear a measured tromp, and Rieka knew instinctively that it was tracking. She and Mother both edged closer, trying to see.

The thing outside walked on two legs; that was where the rhythmic tromp came from. It slowly approached, head down. Rieka made out a set of pawprints Mother and Father had left in the snow, and a chill passed over her as she realized they were being hunted. Father and Mother gave her a worried look and turned back into the den; Rieka scampered after, afraid to be left behind. The three of them pressed into the back of the den, huddling in silence as the tromping came closer and closer. The strange intruder stopped, its shadow falling into the mouth of the den. A face came into view and it peered inside, where Rieka's family was hidden in the darkness. None of them moved; they barely breathed. There was a grunt, and the head withdrew.

That was the last they saw of it for a while. Life went on; they ate, drank, and slept. Winter deepened, bringing colder winds and heavy snowdrifts. Rieka started accompanying her parents as they foraged for food, though she always stayed close to them. She got more used to cold and traveling in the snow as time went on, and the fur on her paws started to turn white like Mother and Father's. Once or twice she got the feeling that she was being watched, but she never saw what was doing it.

Rieka was mostly grown now. She could almost catch rabbits with her parents, but she still wasn't experienced enough to tell which way they would run, so she usually found something else for them to eat. That morning, she was on one of these trips. She padded through the snow with morning sun slanting down through the trees. It was a cold morning, but Rieka felt all right as long as she kept moving. Mother and Father were a short distance away; she could sometimes see them on her left through the trees. She was looking for a bush with something to eat on it, maybe a rabbit if she was lucky. Her breath puffed out in frosty clouds, sparkling in the sunlight.

A shiver of danger ran down her spine and she instinctively froze, listening for danger. There it was, a slight creak to her left. She glanced in that direction, her eyes settling on a bush. She couldn't see anything, but her instincts told her that was where the danger was. Everything had gone silent, and after waiting for several seconds without hearing anything, Rieka lifted a paw and took a cautious step back.

A huge, two-legged shape exploded out of the bush. It rose into the air in a leap, blocking out the sun for a moment. It would have landed on top of her, but she was already running at the first sign of movement. It landed heavily behind her, spraying snow as it charged. Rieka felt a searing pain through her right leg; a hasty glance back showed that a piece of wood had stabbed through it. The pain made her cry out, a shrill call for help. Mother and Father's answering bark came through the trees, and she could hear them charging to help her. She kept running; the stick dragged awkwardly in the snow, slowing her down and wrenching her leg with each step until it ripped out, making her collapse in the snow from shock. Her parents flashed through her view, running past her and leaping on the creature. Driving it away from her. More of them came into view, holding sticks like the one that had pierced her. They stabbed them down, and Rieka heard growls change into yelps of pain.

She struggled onto her paws again. Fear kept her going, and she limped into the forest, trying to keep her balance on three paws. Pounding steps came after her, making her shy away, further down the slope. She lost her balance more than once, falling against rocks and trees before getting up to limp further away from the predators. The pursuing footsteps slowed, but they continued down the slope, following the redstained trail she was leaving behind.

A misstep plunged her into a snowdrift deep enough she couldn't walk through it. Rieka scrabbled in desperation, clawing her way forward. Yelps punctuated her efforts each time her movement twisted her leg. One of the creatures leaped down behind her, landing with a heavy thump. The impact made the snow give way; there was no solid ground underneath her. Rieka slid downward, helpless. There were a few seconds of paralyzing fear, nothing but snow cascading around her, and then a heavy impact and a snap as she hit the snow-covered ground below. The rest of the snow slide hit, instantly burying Rieka as she blacked out.

It was later when Rieka regained consciousness – how much later, she didn't know. All she could see was a diffuse dimness. She tried to turn her head and look around, but she couldn't move. Something was in the way. Surprised, Rieka stirred. The rest of her seemed to be trapped too; she could only move a little. What was this? Rieka licked at the surface in front of her, and her mouth filled with the taste of snow. She wasn't sure what to make of that; she didn't feel cold. She writhed, trying to move again, but pain flared up in her back, and she stopped again. She was completely covered.

Rieka eyed her prison. There was a spot that was brighter than the rest, and she bit at the snow, slowly carving a hole until she could move her head a little. After a few minutes, she broke through the top layer and could see outside. All Rieka could make out through the hole was a wall of rock and a bare tree branch. She writhed again; pain came again, but the snow covering her shoulders shifted, loosening around her forelegs. With a little scrabbling, Rieka was able to get her head out of the snow. As she raised it, she felt an unfamiliar pair of tassels unfurl where her whiskers had been.

 _What is that?_ Rieka looked down at where they lay on the snow. They were covered in fine, ice-blue fur, with darker diamond shapes where the tips came to points. Now that she was aware of them, Rieka realized she could tell how cold it was, even though she wasn't uncomfortable. The wind was picking up, and her new feelers warned that a blizzard was coming. Rieka needed to find shelter.

She worked the back half of her body out of the snow. It was slow going, and she yelped a little whenever the movement aggravated whatever had happened to her back. Finally, though, Rieka pulled free. The first snowflakes were dancing on the wind, swirling around her. She limped away from the cliff, intending to shelter under a pine tree and lick her wounds. Her leg still hurt, though not as much as she remembered.

There were no trees in the shadow of the cliff; the rock face wrapped around, blocking sunlight from reaching them. Rieka was carefully making her way to the forest's edge when a sound stopped her. A rhythmic tramp sounded over the rising wind, carrying echoes of terror. Rieka looked wildly around, and her gaze fell on a line of the two-legged predators in the trees ahead. Panic froze her. There was nowhere to hide. As her fear flared, a sudden wind whipped up the snow around her. Through it, she could see the creatures, but though they passed close, none of them seemed to notice her, even though they glanced in her direction occasionally.

Eventually, the whole line disappeared from sight, and their steps faded. Rieka slowly relaxed, and the thick swirl that had kept her hidden whirled away again. The blizzard she'd anticipated was starting to pick up now; larger flakes blew past, driven by the wind. Rieka picked her way forward, sheltering under the low, wide canopy of a pine tree.

Rieka didn't have much to do for the rest of the day. The blizzard roared around, but not much got through the pine tree, and she felt comfortable. Once she had settled down and assured herself she was alone, Rieka turned to examine her leg. There was still dried blood on it, but the wound didn't look or feel as bad as it had before. She licked it as clean as she could, noticing that the fur underneath had all turned white, except for her paws, which were now a deep, cold blue. The rest of her was the same; Rieka didn't know why.

Her back was starting to hurt again, so Rieka lay down on her side to wait out the storm. She passed into a doze, drifting in and out of sleep and hardly noticing the wind that ruffled her fur or the snow that was blowing into a drift behind her back.

When she woke again, it was nighttime. The blizzard had stopped; the air was clear and still again. Rieka got up, shaking piled snow off her fur. Her back hurt less now, although her leg was the same. Rieka mostly felt hunger; she wasn't sure when she'd last eaten anything, so she made her way out into the snowy forest to look for food.

Nothing had come out yet; hers were the only prints she saw in the snow, and she wouldn't be able to catch anything anyway with her leg hurt. After a while, she found a bush hiding frost-covered berries beneath its leaves. She breathed on one, trying to melt the frost, but nothing happened. She tried again and again with the same effect. That was enough to get her curiosity for a moment, and she turned away from the bush into a patch of moonlight. Exhaling again, she saw that the plume of mist that came with every breath outside wasn't there. _Cold_ , she thought. _I don't feel cold, but I… am_. It was an unfamiliar feeling; Rieka wasn't used to thinking about herself. Her world had always been feelings and instincts; this _being different_ , having to think about what she was, was something new. But it was true, too.

Rieka knew she was different from her parents now, different from any of her kind she had seen. She didn't know how, but cold didn't affect her anymore. _Does that mean I don't need shelter anymore?_ That thought was alien to her as well. Questions were something her simple existence had never brought.

She might have sat there for a long time, but hunger reminded her why she was there. Rieka pulled several berries off, eating them still-frozen. She didn't bring any with her; Rieka didn't have anyone else to feed.

Where were her parents? Rieka looked up, her eyes tracing the outline of the cliff she had fallen from, hard darkness against the night sky. They would be somewhere up there, and so would her den. If they were alive. There was no way to climb the rock face; Rieka would have to find another way up. She limped a little way along the base of the cliff before giving up. It was too dark right now. Rieka lay down again, this time in the snow, and curled up to sleep.

That night, Rieka dreamed for the first time. Her mind filled with images of snow and ice. In her dream, they responded to her thoughts, spinning around Rieka in her own personal storm. She was filled with an exhilarating sense of possibility, like she could do anything. The dreams stayed with her the next day, making her wonder what they meant.

With the sun up again, Rieka resumed her search along the cliff bottom. She had to stop and rest sometimes when her injuries started to trouble her, but she was able to move more easily than she'd hoped through the snowdrifts. The ground started to slope up. That slowed her down, but it also meant she was getting closer to the top of the cliff. She reached the side of the rock face, rested again, and then turned to follow the slope to the top. It was steep, but Rieka, like generations before her, was born to survive, and she didn't give up. She made it all the way to the top and started back in the direction of their den.

Along the way, her attention was drawn to a spot in the snow-covered forest. It looked the same as the rest, but something made it stand out to her. _Prints…_ Rieka shook her head. There were no prints here. Last night's snow lay undisturbed. Still, the impression persisted. Rieka took a step forward and felt a hard crust underpaw. As soon as she touched it, she felt, like an echo, a line of pawprints stretching back behind her. They ran forward only a few steps into a mass of confusion. Rieka followed them, and things started to come into focus. There were two – no, _three_ – sets of pawprints here. More prints, larger, came from different directions and left again. One set of pawprints leaving – Rieka's breath caught. There was blood in the snow. _My prints. From before_.

She surveyed the scene below the snow with new eyes. Her prints coming, stopping. The two others, Mother and Father rushing to her. Large prints from the two-legged predators that had attacked her. And… Rieka's heart sank. Her parents' prints never left. She knew what that meant. The two-legged creatures had been hunting. She was alone.

Rieka retreated forlornly to her den. The scents were a few days old. _A few days… that's how long I was under there,_ she realized. In that time, her whole world had shifted into a place she didn't fully understand.

She settled into a routine again, foraging for food in the mornings and then retreating back to her den to rest, trying to forget the pain she felt. Her back healed, as did her leg, though it left her with a slight limp she would probably have for the rest of her life.

Just when she started to feel normal again, the hunters came back. Rieka found tracks, first in the trees, then out in the open near her den. They crossed her own sometimes, and Rieka knew they were aware of her too. She moved cautiously now whenever she ventured out, stepping lightly and frequently stopping to listen. Sometimes she could hear them through the trees, so she stayed away.

Rieka woke one morning in the back of her den, danger prickling her fur. She sniffed and immediately picked up the scent of two hunters. Moving on silent paws, she approached the entrance of her den and stopped again to listen. Silence. Everything was unnaturally still. She took a cautious step out – and jerked back, as some sixth sense screamed of peril. Something flashed past her den, and she heard a hunter's grunt of effort. They were right outside. Waiting for her. They couldn't get in, but something told her that to be trapped meant certain death, so she bolted, driven by fear, her limp forgotten for a moment.

Rieka tore across the open space, stopping short before she reached the trees as more hunters emerged. She spun; the other two were coming after her from behind. Rieka let out a cry of fear; something new stirred inside at her need. A sudden wind whipped around her, whirling snow up from the ground and surrounding Rieka in a miniature blizzard. Around her, the hunters stopped short, backing away a little. Rieka, breathing hard, tried to watch them all at once, even as her mind whirled, trying to process what was happening. It was like… _that dream_.

The hunters moved hesitantly forward again. One hurled another of their sticks at her. Rieka whirled, and a burst of wind slashed it away from her. Rieka retaliated with the newfound power from her dreams. All around her, the temperature dropped. The cold concentrated itself in front of her, and she turned it on her attacker in a flash of white-blue. He cried out and staggered back, one arm covered in frost, held stiff. Rieka let out a high-pitched cry like wind whipping through trees and the hunters fled, leaving her alone.

Around her, the wind subsided and snow drifted back to the ground. Rieka wondered again what was happening as she stood in the show, chest heaving in the aftermath of the attack. _What… what am I?_ She had never experienced or seen anything like what was happening to her now. Hunger, running, hunters, pain… those were all part of life. You stayed out of sight where you could, ran where you couldn't, found what you could to eat, and if you couldn't, it was over. Swirling ice wasn't a part of her experience, until now. Hunters had run from her, despite their size, strength, and numbers. Rieka was different, unknown. _What am I?_ she wondered again. She had no answer.

The hunters didn't bother Rieka after that. She saw them occasionally, but they avoided her whenever she came into view. Occasionally, her sensitive ears caught a fearful murmur, " _glacii, glacii._ " Somehow she knew they meant her. To the hunters at least, she was the _glacii_. Rieka started living a solitary life; only ice and snow knew how she felt. Nothing threatened her, and so she left her den behind to roam the mountain. Every night she lay down to sleep in a snowdrift or under a tree, and every morning she went somewhere new, driven by a hunger for answers, to know what she was. Weather didn't bother her; she traveled in clear weather, blizzards, and freezing winds all the same.

Over time, she learned how to call the cold winds to cloak her whenever she needed. Hunting should have been easy for her; she could hide anywhere, and she could follow animals' tracks even when a new snowfall buried them. Memories stopped her; whenever she pinned a rabbit to the ground and felt its tiny heart racing, she remembered running alone with the hunters trying to kill her, and the loss after her parents fell to them. Rieka could never bring herself to kill them after that, even when she couldn't find anything to eat.

She sometimes found others of her kind – or at least, the way she had been, the way her parents were. They weren't usually afraid of her, but they never accepted her either, turning her away when she tried to approach their dens. Rieka kept wandering. Sometimes she saw her parents in her dreams.

One night, she happened on the hunters' camp. There were lights there, flickering orange and yellow. Hunters walked here and there, but they didn't see her in the darkness. Instead of going to sleep, she watched them for a while. The lights flickered lower as stars came out, and eventually all the hunters disappeared into their round dens. Rieka limped into their camp, her paws making no noise in the soft snow. She was drawn to the lights first; they had an acrid smell she didn't recognize. When she got close, the temperature went from cold to uncomfortably warm, then to hot. Rieka drew back to a safe distance. These hunters had something different too. They brought heat into their camp, much like she carried cold inside her. Experimentally, she blew a frosty breath at it. Instead of subsiding, the light flickered brighter for a moment, heedless of the cold.

That was something new. In their own way, the hunters had mastered sunlight and brought it here to keep the cold away. They were different too, like she was. Rieka moved stealthily toward one of the dens, giving the lights plenty of room. When she reached the side, she could hear the hunters inside. Their tones sounded like any other creatures getting ready for sleep, and she moved around the side curiously. More light radiated from the entrance, and Rieka cautiously peered in.

It was a mistake. One of the hunters looked her way. Rieka ducked back, but not quickly enough. A scream pierced her ears, " _GLACII!_ " and suddenly the camp came alive. Hunters emerged from dens all over the camp, quickly finding her. Some of them had sticks, and she pulled a protective whirl of snow around herself. They advanced, threatening but clearly afraid. Rieka would have retreated to the forest, but there were hunters that way too; she stood her ground, uncertain. Nothing happened for a few moments, but then one of the lights flickered to life again. As Rieka watched, the hunters took sticks away, each one carrying a piece of flickering sun. They came closer, holding these new sun-sticks out wardingly. Each step pushed her closer to the breaking point.

Finally one of the hunters came too close and the tension inside Rieka snapped. She turned her power to cold blue light and blasted at the nearest of them, dropping him frost-covered to the ground. A confusion of shouts rang out and the hunters all started throwing sun-sticks at her. Her wind whipped around, deflecting a few, but it didn't work as well as she was used to against the hunters' heat. Several of them struck her directly, and she shrieked in pain as the light burned her. It hurt, far worse even than having their stick pierce her leg and rip through her flesh. Rieka howled, a sound torn from the depths of her soul. A full-scale blizzard roared to life around her, sending her assailants stumbling back and ripping nearby dens right out of the ground. She used the cover from her outburst to retreat, running with an exaggerated limp from the hunters and their burning light. Nothing tried to follow her, but she kept going heedlessly until her flight took her unexpectedly off the edge of a ravine.

In shock, Rieka plummeted. Wind whipped around her again, deflecting her from the walls and somehow holding her up enough to survive the impact. She stumbled to her paws again, the pain from her burns mixing with the bruises she got from the fall, and stood there for a moment, just struggling for breath. Her chest and side were burned, as well as part of her tail and left foreleg. The pain threatened to overwhelm her, but adrenaline was still pumping through her, and she stumbled deeper into the ravine.

A wall of crumbled rock stopped her progress. Huge, unnaturally cut stones lay in a disorderly pile. Some of them had markings on them; Rieka had never seen that before. Something drew her onward, and she limped around them until she found a dark hole. She was instinctively worried, but again there was that feeling, beckoning her. With nowhere else to go, Rieka made her way around a final stone and slipped inside.

 **Polarissb's Notes on Glaceon:**

 _Glaceon are adapted to survive in inhospitable arctic conditions. Apart from their immunity to cold, Glaceon have sensitive sight, hearing, and smell, which helps them hunt. They also have a unique ability to follow tracks hidden under snow, allowing them track prey when there is no visible trace of their presence. Pokemon Rangers in northern areas use them to find people who get lost in blizzard conditions._

 _Glaceon can also control the temperature around them and create miniature snowstorms, which they use both to hide and to attack. A Glaceon's dangles let them sense temperature variations; they are otherwise unaware of how cold it is. With training, a Glaceon can compress snow into ice shards and attack with those as well._

Wild Glaceon are reclusive, even somewhat shy, and tend to live solitary lives. When two Glaceon mate, they stay together, protecting their Eevee children from the cold, until they are old enough to evolve. Once their children evolve, all of them go their separate ways. Glaceon raised from Eevee by Trainers are generally much friendlier; however, the Trainer who captures a wild Glaceon will find it very slow to warm up to them or the rest of their team.


	3. Luna the Sylveon

_Luna is an OC belonging to Pokemonlover4502 on deviantArt.  
_

 _Standard game universe, somewhat darker story  
_

Luna stumbled down the path, still half in shock. She hadn't eaten in days, but the eevee still couldn't think about it. She was still lost in her memories. She'd been left in her ball for… a long time, longer than ever before. Sam hadn't sent her out to battle or even feed her or anything. He _always_ did that.

Khan had gone the other way. It had been the cubone's idea to split up, hopefully find who had done this. Luna shivered. After miserably watching her sun set, rise, set, and rise again, her ball had flashed blue. It always flashed red. A few seconds later, it had opened, depositing her on a forest path – some route, somewhere – with an unsettling smell invading her nose.

Out ahead, the woods opened into a meadow, and Luna caught the scents of people. There would be food there. Maybe someone who could help her. The eevee closed her eyes, trying to block the memories out. Looking around expectantly for Sam with her ball in his hand. Anger, confusion, about why he'd just left her in the ball. Gnawing pain in her stomach – she still had that. Her confusion had increased to bewilderment as she didn't see what she was looking for, and then her ears had caught a sound. She'd whirled to see Khan with tears staining his mask. Sam lay on the ground next to him.

All of Luna's anger had vanished, replaced by concern. She ran to her trainer, pushing her nose into his hand. It was so cold; Luna backed away, ears flat. That smell…

Khan let out a little sob. "He's gone."

Luna took another step back. "NO!" she wailed, shaking her head. Sam couldn't be dead. That wasn't the way things worked. Sometimes you got hurt – sometimes Luna got hurt – but people didn't get killed. Sam hadn't even been that old. He never hurt anyone.

Nothing made sense, and she didn't want to believe it, but there was no way to deny the smell of blood, her open ball, still on his belt… Luna ran back to her trainer, shoving her way under his cold, still arm with another wail of loss.

Luna shook off the memories again, trudging toward the village. Khan had evolved – just broken off midsentence, glowing white. The cubone had checked Sam over – Luna couldn't bear to – and found the injuries. They could have been from a lot of things, but when Khan had reported that his bag was gone, that meant humans. Wild pokémon wouldn't have any use for a bag, and they might have gotten Sam's team out, whether to 'free' them or attack them too. Anyway, if it had been a pokémon attack, there would have been a fight. If it had been this bad, Luna would have been sent out, and she hadn't been.

No, humans had done this, Khan said. He was going to find out who, and – that was when he'd evolved. He and Luna had gone different ways, promising to find Sam's killers and make them pay. Luna privately didn't know if she could, but she couldn't admit that in front of her marowak friend, not when his eyes burned like that, so she just nodded. She didn't want to leave Sam there, but Luna knew she had to find food and water. Survival had to come first.

Which was how she got here, hungry, thirsty, and fighting a losing battle against the memories of that morning. She wondered over and over if there was any point to going on, but her instincts wouldn't let her give up. Eventually she made it within sight of the village. She was in a meadow of flowers, and their soft scents helped her. Luna found a fenced garden of bushes and slipped under the fence, looking for something to eat. She wasn't used to having to look for food. Sam had always made sure he brought some.

Luna found berries inside the bush's thick shell of leaves. She had to clamber up a little to squeeze between the branches and reach one. She simply ate it from the branch, then, still hungry, she ate another before wriggling backwards to clear ground. It left her ruff and tail in a mess, but it didn't really matter to her. She headed into the town, looking for water; Luna had a vague memory of being here before, and she thought there might be a fountain in the middle. She was making her way down a street when she heard an excited gasp. She looked over to see a woman with brown hair looking at her.

Seeing that she had Luna's attention, the woman called, "Hi, Eevee! What are you doing here all alone?" It was a reaction the eevee had gotten before – a lot of people thought she was cute. Maybe the woman would help her? She approached, trying to look as hungry and lost as she could, which wasn't hard. The woman aahed over her and opened her door, letting Luna into the house.

At least this was familiar. It was warm inside, comfortable-looking. Sounds of life came from another room, pushing in on the bubble of loneliness that had surrounded her for the last day. Luna went into the kitchen, her paws pattering on the hard floor, and looked at the sink, panting exaggeratedly to show she was thirsty. "Oh, are you thirsty?" the woman asked. _Yes_. Luna watched as the woman opened a cupboard and pulled out a bowl. She filled it with water and placed it on the ground before turning to another cupboard full of food. Luna started lapping at the water, and before long it was joined on the floor by a stack of crackers. Luna ignored them, draining the bowl after two days of going without anything to drink. The woman refilled the bowl, looking at the eevee in surprise.

Luna started feeling better after mostly emptying the bowl a second time. She turned to the crackers and crunched one down, licking the crumbs up when she was done.

With the immediate threat of starvation gone, Luna's feelings started to come back, seeping through the shell of survival she'd shut herself in. The pain at losing Sam crept back over her and she curled up on the floor, squeezing her eyes shut, wishing it weren't real. Hands unexpectedly reached around her, and the woman picked her up, cradling Luna to her chest and running her fingers through the eevee's tangled fur. It didn't do much, but Luna took what comfort she could from the contact, leaning her head against the woman. "Oh, you poor thing," the woman said. "You've had a rough time, haven't you? Rob!" she called. "Can you get some blankets out? I found an eevee out alone on the street, and it needs somewhere to sleep."

"Sure." The answer came from the other room, and Luna was carried through the doorway. This was a living space, with a couch, small tables with different things on them, a television on the wall. Luna only smelled the woman and her husband in the house. He appeared, red-haired, a few minutes later carrying a few blankets. The woman was sitting on a chair now, stroking Luna softly. She got up, setting the eevee on the floor, and started folding them into a bed. That was nice of her; Luna had gotten lucky. Not everyone would have been so kind to her. There were still the… whoever had killed _her_ Sam. Luna suddenly felt bad, bad that she was here, that she hadn't had the chance to protect Sam and now he was gone. _But what can I do? There isn't anything_ , _I'm just an eevee_.

She spent most of the rest of the afternoon nestled in the pile of blankets. She wasn't used to noise and movement all the time, so Luna watched as the man and woman went in and out, doing this and that. They checked on her every few minutes, sometimes stopping and giving her fur a friendly ruffle. After a while they brought in another full bowl of water and some more crackers, leaving them next to her.

Later in the afternoon, they sat down on the couch and turned on the television. Luna never really cared what they said, but this time something caught her attention.

 _"… We regret to inform you that a trainer was found dead today near the road to Lavender Town."_ The man and woman gasped at this, while Luna pricked her ears up, wanting to know what they had found out. It had to be Sam. _"The IP haven't finished their investigation, but they have informed us that it appears to have happened several days ago. Who or what was responsible is still unknown, but there are suspicions that this was not an accident."_

 _Nothing_ , Luna thought bitterly. The humans hadn't found anything she and Khan didn't already know. They weren't any closer to finding out who had taken her trainer away. Off to the side, the couple was conversing in low tones. Luna wasn't really listening to them, but she picked up worry in their voices, wondering if it was safe to go out. There was more news, but things were subdued after that. They watched for a while longer, then left the room to go to sleep. They checked on her one more time before turning out the light, and then Luna was left alone. She didn't mind too much. At least it was comfortable here. Luna nestled deeper into the blankets, laying her head down to sleep.

Luna's night was punctuated by dark dreams. The worst dream was of Sam. In it, she was watching from the bushes on the path. Sam lay there dead on the ground, with other humans standing around him in a silent circle. Many of them were familiar; Luna even recognized the faces of the man and woman who had taken her in that day. She woke up panting, trying to reassure herself that it had only been a dream. Still, the feeling persisted, and Luna didn't know what was safe anymore. Any of them could have killed her trainer. _I can't trust them. Any of them_.

It was still the middle of the night. Luna made her way back through the kitchen to the door, nearly running into a chair. She pawed at the door, but it didn't open, and Luna remembered that it had been locked. She felt trapped. _There has to be another way out of here._ The back door turned out to be similarly impossible to open, and Luna started looking and listening around with increasing desperation. After a few minutes, she found an open window. It was high on the wall, but still an easy jump if she used a quick attack. Luna gathered herself and her power, then launched upward in an arc that carried her through the opening. She landed outside with a tumble on short-clipped grass, scrambling back onto her paws and listening carefully to see if she had been noticed. Everything was still quiet. Luna retreated into the meadow, away from the houses, before curling up in a thick patch of grass and flowers to try to sleep the rest of the night.

She never went back after that. Luna stayed near the town – not to be near humans, but watching for any clue about who had attacked Sam. She drank from puddles and ate from bushes with the wild pokémon, but she didn't get close to any of them either. No one could replace Sam. She went to see him, but when she made it back to the place he had been, everything was gone. Nothing remained but police lines, the smell of death, and serious-looking men. Luna didn't dare get any closer. There wasn't any reason to anyway; her trainer was gone forever.

Luna spent a lot of time watching the town, watching the people. Her life wasn't much fun, but she kept at it. She didn't get bothered much, but even when a wild Pokémon decided to pick a fight with her, she stayed away from the town. Pokémon Centers had everything needed to take care of her, but they were frequented by Trainers. Even if they had nothing to do with Sam, they might try to catch her. Getting close was too dangerous. Everything was too dangerous, though sometimes she almost wished a trainer would catch her, take her on another adventure away from this place and her memories.

It was a month later when a new family moved into town. Luna carefully watched all the new arrivals, and a whole family arriving at once was enough to make her suspicious. She circled stealthily through the meadows to the empty house they were going to and settled down, peering through the grass and their white picket fence. They seemed normal enough, but she couldn't let her guard down; she listened to the human news through windows that were more and more frequently open as summer came and sometimes heard reports of other trainers killed or missing. Sometimes other people too, but usually trainers. Luna didn't know any of the people or the places, but it meant that whoever had killed Sam was still out there, still on the move. The last report had been near here again. Luna couldn't afford to relax her guard. She thought she knew humans once, and she'd been wrong.

That meant the new family was at the top of her list of threats. There was a man, a woman, and two girls. It wasn't until the next day that she saw pokémon following the girls around. One had a marill, but it was the other that got Luna's attention. The other girl walked into the back yard, followed by a sylveon. Luna stared out from her hiding place in the grass. Eons were rare; apart from her parents, the eevee had only ever met two of her evolutionary siblings. And the sylveon was beautiful – Luna took an envious moment to admire her flowing ribbons and almost feathery tail and ear fur. Both pokémon looked happy, carefree, like she had once.

That changed things. Would they be with murderers? Humans Luna didn't trust, but these were pokémon. Somehow she couldn't imagine them staying with the family if they were evil, not when they looked like that.

A lonely feeling came over her. She'd felt it before many times over the last month, but this time the eevee realized she was tired of being on her own. She'd always had Sam before, and she missed the feeling of companionship.

Luna waited for most of the morning until a moment finally came when the sylveon was outside but the humans weren't. She got as close as she dared before calling out, "Hey! Over here."

The sylveon turned, looking for her. Luna was still hiding in the grass like she always did near town. The fairy pokémon took a hesitant step and asked, "Who was that?"

"Over here!" Luna repeated.

This time the sylveon turned toward her and came a little closer. "Who are you?"

"I'm Luna." Realizing the sylveon still couldn't see her, she added, "I'm an eevee."

"Oh. Why don't you come out?"

"I don't want them to see me."

"What, me? I don't bite, I promise." The sylveon laughed, exposing tiny fangs.

Luna shook her head, rustling the grass. "Not you. _Them_." Conversation wasn't coming easily. It had been a long time since the eevee had had a reason to actually talk to anyone.

The sylveon looked over her shoulder. "You mean people? Oh. Are you a wild pokémon, then?"

"No!" Luna protested. "Well… yes… well…" She sighed. "I don't know anymore."

The sylveon cast a concerned look in her direction and came the rest of the way into the grass, walking over to where Luna crouched. "It's okay. You can stay out here."

Luna nodded thanks. "What is your name?"

"I'm Evelyn. They call me Aura, though," the sylveon added with another glance toward the house. "You can call me whichever you want. I don't mind."

"Evelyn sounds like a nice name."

Evelyn laughed again and lay down in the grass next to the eevee. "Thanks." She gave Luna another look. "Luna, was it? What did you mean when you said you're not sure if you're a wild pokémon?"

Luna sighed. "I used to have a trainer. His name was Sam." A tear came to her eye. "We beat two gyms before…" She couldn't get the rest of the words out.

A peace came over her. "Hey," Evelyn said. Luna looked up to see the sylveon's ribbons spread out, waving gently in the air. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me."

Luna shook her head. "No, it's all right. You should know. Just—" She glanced at Evelyn's feelers "—help me get through it, okay?"

Evelyn nodded, and she went on. It was easier to talk now; Luna didn't feel like breaking down anymore, but she still took a deep breath before continuing. "We were on our way here, but then something happened. My ball didn't open, not for two days. And when I got out—" She stopped and looked the sylveon in the eye. "Sam was dead." Evelyn gasped in shock and the pain started to come back, but Luna pressed on. "Someone killed him. Humans, we think. That's why I can't trust them." She paused. "That was a month ago. I've been out here since then."

Evelyn scooted a little closer and wrapped her feelers around Luna. "You poor thing. That sounds _awful_." She was tearing up now, too. "I wish I could help you."

"You are helping," Luna reassured her. "I've been alone for a long time. Thanks for listening to me."

Evelyn nodded. "Of course. Are you sure you want to stay out here, all alone? You could come back with me. I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

Luna actually considered it for a few seconds before answering. "No. I don't… I don't know. Sorry."

"It's all right, I understand," the sylveon said. They talked for a little longer; Luna didn't have much to tell, but Evelyn described her life with the family. It seemed nice to Luna, but she wasn't sure she'd feel safe so close to humans. Not just the ones Evelyn lived with – being in town would put her close to everyone else too.

It was nice to just sit and talk to someone after so long. Finally, though, a small voice rang out from the direction of town. Evelyn's ear twitched toward it. "I should go," she told the eevee. "They're wondering where I am." Luna had caught the hint of worry in the girl's voice too, and she nodded. "Are you sure you don't want to come back with me?"

Luna shook her head. "No, I'm sure."

Evelyn gave her a nod and got to her paws. She started back toward town, then paused and turned back. "Will you come back tomorrow?"

Luna gave her new friend an eager nod. "I'll be here."

"All right. See you tomorrow." The sylveon flashed her a smile, showing her fangs again, then left the grass and padded back toward the house.

That was how their friendship began. Evelyn would come out to see her most afternoons; they would lay in the grass and talk about life, or sometimes walk a little way around town. Luna was still hesitant to go in, but she would go closer than normal when she was with the sylveon. She showed Evelyn things like the berry bushes frequented by wild pokémon and a fallen tree she liked walking on. Luna was starting to feel better. She still missed Sam terribly, wished she could have done something, but the raw pain and mistrust were starting to fade. She hadn't realized how badly she'd needed a friend.

Luna woke up early one morning with a chill of foreboding. She couldn't put a paw on it, but something was wrong. The sun hadn't risen yet, but Luna got up and headed out, glancing around warily. The feeling persisted as she went to eat and drink, so Luna stayed in the open where she could see in all directions. _What if it's something else?_ she wondered. Maybe Sam's murderers had come here. She padded restlessly around the town, even going through the middle before the sun came up. She didn't hear, see, or smell anything out of place, but the worry refused to leave her. _What about Evelyn?_ Maybe she was in danger, or her family. Luna was reluctant to go close, but this might be important. She circled around the town again as the sun came up, approaching their house from the back. Once or twice she saw a flicker of movement, confirming her suspicions. There was something following her.

Hesitantly, she approached, trying to watch the house as well as everything around her. The rising sun cast long shadows across the ground. Finally she reached the wooden back door. She hesitated a moment longer before pawing at it once, twice, then three times. Luna stopped and leaned against the door, pressing an ear to it to listen. After a moment, she heard quiet steps approaching. The eevee shifted anxiously back and forth from paw to paw. There was a bit of scrabbling and then the door shifted outward in a series of jerks. Finally a pink and white head poked out, and Evelyn shouldered the rest of her way through. "Luna? What's going on?"

"I don't know," the eevee replied. "Something just feels wrong today. I'm worried."

The sylveon glanced around before returning Luna's concerned look. "You might be right."

Luna caught another flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. "Did you see that?"

Evelyn shook her head. "No, what was it?"

"Something moving. I've been seeing it…" She trailed off. "Ever since the sun came up." Luna turned, her eyes flicking across the ground this time. _Shadows_ … One of them was out of place. Evelyn's shadow had spikes… and eyes. _Gengar!_

Luna's mind went into overdrive. The gengar was hunting them. It had probably been following her all morning, waiting for her to relax her guard. It hadn't attacked yet, but that could change at any moment. She looked deliberately away, trying to control her breathing. "Evelyn? Help me?" She had to stay calm, or the gengar might realize it had been found out.

Thankfully, the sylveon understood and started radiating her aura of calm. "All right," Luna said. "Do you know any fairy attacks? Look at me," she ordered as Evelyn started to glance around.

"Okay. I know one."

"What kind?"

"A flash?"

Luna nodded, relieved. "Okay. Use it now. Just do it."

Evelyn opened her mouth to protest, looked at Luna again, and stopped. Out of the corner of her eye, the eevee saw the shadow start to shift. "Quick!" she snapped. Evelyn was already starting to glow, and Luna averted her eyes as her friend flashed brightly. The gengar reared out of the ground and took form, backing away from the sudden brightness.

"All right, are you going to tell me what that was about?" Luna glanced wordlessly behind her friend, and the sylveon followed her gaze and gasped. "How did that get here?"

"They hide in shadows to hunt." There wasn't any more time to explain; the gengar was already coming. Luna's mind went into combat mode for the first time since the day she'd lost Sam – her other fights with wild pokémon had been little more than scuffles. _Ghost pokémon. Goes right through things. Have to use energy attacks on it_. Sam would have been calling out moves by now. Fortunately, Luna had one move that would work. Sam had gotten some kind of machine, a training version of a pokeball, and used it to teach her a move called Shadow Ball. Unlike the other moves she knew, it actually worked on ghosts.

As the gengar swiped at her friend, Luna charged forward, forming a shadow ball. The attack blindsided the gengar, knocking it away, but the shadow ball wasn't strong enough to stop it. She launched another one, but the gengar dodged it. The shadow pokémon was too fast to hit at a distance.

For a moment they just squared off. Luna was breathing hard, but she spared a split second to glance at Evelyn. "You all right?" She got a shaky nod in return.

 **Leave her alone.** The gengar directed its words at Luna. She bared her teeth. Of _course_ it would go for Evelyn. Even though she was bigger, the sylveon didn't have experience battling like Luna did. **I only want one. Leave while you can.**

"No," Luna snarled. The gengar darted forward, taunting her. She formed another shadow ball and held it as her opponent weaved back and forth. Finally she let it go. The gengar flattened into a shadow and streaked in, reforming to hit her with an upward slash. It didn't do any physical damage, but it _hurt_. Luna fell back, gasping for breath. The slash had hit her on a different level, ripping at the power that flowed through her in the wake of her shadow ball.

The gengar turned away from her, back to Evelyn. **Last chance. Leave or die.**

As Luna struggled to her paws again, sides heaving, Evelyn called out to her. "Just go! There's nothing you can do."

Luna growled the words out. " _No_. Sam got murdered and I couldn't do anything about it. I would have died protecting him, but there was _nothing I could do_ then. This is different. I will _not_ leave you. Not now." She formed another shadow ball as she spoke.

 **Fine.** It was the gengar again. **Die.** It launched itself at her. She hit it in the face right before it reached her, but it pushed through and slashed her again, right through the chest. The eevee couldn't stay on her paws any longer, and she collapsed. Evelyn might have said or screamed something, Luna wasn't sure. As Evelyn backed away from the advancing gengar and released another flash, Luna tried to form another shadow ball. She faltered; the dark mist dissipated, but at the same time a new sensation swept across her, wiping out the pain.

For a few moments everything seemed to come to a standstill. Luna lay motionless as the evolutionary energy worked its way through her body. Her limbs lengthened as she grew larger, and there was a strange feeling in her head and neck – something that hadn't been there before. As the light faded, she got a look at them – white ribbons, tipped in lavender. She'd evolved into a sylveon.

Evelyn was still trying to fend off the gengar. It tried to approach as a shadow, but she repelled it with another flash, so it came at her in its normal form, striking her again. It still hadn't seen Luna. The new sylveon curled her ribbons experimentally. It felt strange, but they responded like her tail or legs would have. She used them to push off the ground and stand upright. Evelyn saw her, eyes widening, and used another flash to keep the gengar's attention on herself; a corner of Luna's mind noticed that the sylveon was limping.

 _I've got to do something_. Luna didn't know anything about her new fairy powers, but she could still use her other moves, and her powers were a lot stronger now – she could feel it. She broke into a run, preparing another shadow ball. The sylveon instinctively arced her new ribbons around, containing the energy so she could form the focused core of a full-power attack. The gengar heard her and turned just as she launched it. It tried to avoid the attack, but the ghostly energy took it in the side, knocking it away from her friend. Luna took a few more steps to place herself in front of Evelyn.

"Are you okay?" the other sylveon asked.

"I'm fine," Luna told her friend, not taking her eyes off the gengar. "What about you?"

"I'll be all right, I hope."

As before, the gengar dropped into the ground and rushed her. Luna held firm as it struck again. It didn't hurt as badly as before. As it turned away, she lashed out and caught its wrist with her two left ribbons, sending power through them to keep its ghostly hand from slipping out of her grasp. Luna started another shadow ball with her other ribbons. She couldn't focus it very well, but the sylveon used her ribbons to slam the half-formed attack into her opponent, stunning it. She did it again, pounding the gengar with shadow ball after shadow ball until the color went out of it and it stopped struggling. When she released its wrist, the gengar collapsed to the ground, flattened into a shadow, and faded away. "Is it gone?" Evelyn asked her. Luna turned around to see her friend staring at her in amazement.

Luna nodded, panting. "I think so."

Running footsteps from the other side caught her attention. Luna turned around in time to have a human girl throw her arms around her. "Thank you thankyouthankyouthankyou! You saved Aura!" Part of her wanted to pull away, but something in Luna's heart melted at the little girl's embrace. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on the girl's shoulder, letting a smile come to her face. For the first time since she'd been with Sam, Luna felt real happiness wash over her.

 **Polarissb's Notes on Sylveon:**

 _Sylveon may be the rarest known form of Eevee. Its evolution happens similarly to espeon and umbreon's, but instead of simply triggering on strong emotion, it specifically requires affection or loyalty to another. Exposure to fairy energies is also needed for evolution. Because of the way they evolve, sylveon are generally extremely social and affectionate towards their trainers, and they usually don't do well if kept alone or traded._

 _Physically, sylveon are extremely resilient to special attacks and are quite capable of taking hits in general. They're not usually the most aggressive and prefer to calm fights, but when provoked their attacks are quite powerful as well. Their feelers will regrow over time if cut off._


	4. Tracy the Vaporeon

**_The newest story in this collection is currently Helektra the Jolteon._**

 _Tracy is an OC belonging to awsomness123 on DeviantArt. You can see her bio there._ _For this story: trainer-owned pokemon, standard anime universe, fun story (nothing bad or dark happens)_

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Tracy waited impatiently in her ball. She was on a flat, grassy surface with trees growing here and there. For all purposes it looked like any spot in any forest, except that about twenty feet from where she sat it was cut off by a wall that curved around and up. From here, though, the wall was hard to see unless you were looking for it, because it had more forest splashed across it in a moving image.

If she looked closely, Tracy knew she could find things wrong with the trees and grass, too, but that was all right. Her ball wasn't a bad place to live. It had several den-like holes she could sleep or stay in. One was in the side of a little slope on one side of her ball, and the other started as a hole under a tree but went down a surprising distance before widening into a chamber large enough to accommodate a Pokémon several times her size. Up above her, the wall of her ball displayed a sky. The sun was still low in the morning 'sky,' but there were also several clouds scattered around. Most importantly, though, it wasn't just a house. She'd had enough of those; Poke Balls were for going places and doing things.

Speaking of doing things, right now her Trainer Ryland was in the Mauville City's Electric gym. Tracy could be sent out at any moment, and the anticipation kept her on edge. They'd done plenty of training – Tracy had, since Ryland had rescued her – but gyms were where you really found out what you were made of. The annoying thing was that there wasn't any way to know what was going on. Poke Balls were light-, sound-, and shock-proof inside, because of League rules – some nonsense about it being unfair to see what kind of fight you were about to be sent into. At least there was the signal.

Tracy fell to pacing back and forth until it happened. The sun dimmed, and the sky in her ball started pulsing with red light. That meant Ryland had just grabbed Tracy's ball, expanding it to full size in her hand. Tracy spared a moment of vanity to center her teardrop pendant on her chest before taking a ready position. Barely in time – everything went white, there was a rushing sensation, and suddenly Tracy was standing on a painted metal floor. As Ryland had taught the Eevee, she quickly glanced around, taking in the Gym.

The floor was mostly flat, with nothing to impede movement or provide cover; the usual Poke Ball symbol was etched in the center with white lines. Ryland was standing behind her; the girl's face was flushed and Tracy's ball was still in her outstretched hand. Her immediate opponent was an Electrike; the yellow Pokémon looked about her size, but more heavily built. Behind it stood an older man with a cheerful smile, bright eyes, and a large belly. It had to be Wattson, the leader.

Neither Trainer gave an order for a moment. That happened sometimes. Well, rather a lot in Tracy's case. "Well, well," Wattson boomed, "a shiny Eevee! Now there's something you don't see every day." Tracy sighed inside. Other Trainers always commented on her looks. _I know I'm pretty, but you probably haven't seen what I'm about to do to your Electrike either,_ she retorted silently.

Then the moment came, where everything turned serious and the battle was on again. "Ready, Tracy?" Ryland called out. "Tackle!" Nothing big, just testing the waters to see what her opponent would do. Tracy broke into a run, lunging at her opponent.

From the other side, Wattson called, "Electrike, Spark!" Tracy felt her fur rise as the Electrike built up a charge and moved to counter her. She caught it while it was only half ready, and the two Pokémon collided. Tracy winced as the Shock attack snapped through her, and at the same time the Electrike fell back a pace from the impact. Even.

Wattson took the initiative now. "Electrike, Charge!" Its coat started to spark, and Tracy's silver fur stood on end again. _I can't hit it now. What do I do?_

Thinking along the same lines, Ryland called, "Go right, then use Shadow Ball!" Tracy nodded, relieved. She should've known Ryland would have a plan. Tracy ran to the side, putting distance between herself and her opponent. She gathered her energy, opening her mouth to form the dark, intangible ball she'd just learned to use, then launched it, snapping her jaws shut and watching in satisfaction as it shot across the distance to splash darkness across the crouched Electrike. The shadowy energy made it cringe for a few seconds as it sunk into her opponent's yellow body. "Do it again, Tracy!" her Trainer called excitedly.

Tracy formed another Shadow Ball, but this time Wattson snapped out an order just as she fired. "Agility!" The Electrike darted to the left, quicker this time, fast enough to dodge the attack. _That's what the charging was for_. "Get in close, Electrike!" _Close?_ As the thought crossed her mind, Ryland screamed, "Tracy, Reflect!" Tracy didn't know what was coming, but the urgency in Ryland's voice snapped her into action, and she quickly surrounded herself with a golden dome of energy.

"Electrike, Discharge!" Her opponent suddenly flared with sparks, right behind her, in some kind of electric explosion. Her shield repelled a lot of the sparks, but Tracy still had to grit her teeth as the rest of the electricity coursed through her, leaving the Eevee breathless. _It could've been a lot worse, though,_ Tracy thought with a wave of gratitude for her Trainer.

Ryland wasn't done. Before anyone else reacted, she ordered, "Tracy! Take Down, now!" Tracy sucked in a huge breath, realizing that the last few moves had put them by the wall. _That was her plan!_ Ignoring the pain for a moment, Tracy whirled and channeled her strength and energy into a lunge. The Electrike, charge drained now, was moving sluggishly. _You're not getting away._ Tracy surged forward, catching it in the chest with her shoulder and bulling it backward. She slammed her opponent into the wall, hard, but she was braced for the impact. The Electrike wasn't. When she stepped back, it slid to the floor, gasping for breath.

"Sorry," she said, looking down. "That was a good fight, though." It was the kind of thing Ryland would say after a battle. Her opponent nodded before disappearing back into Wattson's ball. The big man was nodding, his cheerful expression unchanged. "Impressive. You've trained her well." Tracy looked back at Ryland. The girl's expression had changed to a big smile. "Great job, Tracy! This calls for a celebration!" Tracy beamed at the praise. Ryland held out the ball, and with another flash, the silver Eevee found herself in her forest again.

She knew what came next. Wattson would give Ryland a badge, talk to her for a while, give her advice, blah blah blah. That part wasn't very interesting anyway. The fight had gone pretty well, she thought. She was still smarting from the shocks she'd gotten, but other than that she was fine. Tracy settled down to wait.

Tracy looked up again at her sky, estimating the time from the sun's position and worriedly noting the clouds. The sun in her ball matched where the real one would be, but Tracy didn't know if there were actually clouds in the sky right now. She hoped not. It had been a few hours since the battle with the gym leader. Shortly after the battle, Ryland had gone to the Pokémon Center. Tracy could tell when they put her ball in the machine because the walls started glowing with soft light, easing her bruises and clearing out the lingering ache from the Electrike's shocks. It felt wonderful, and she closed her eyes as she usually did to bask in the warm glow.

After that, she wasn't sure what was going on. She'd been waiting for a while. That was normal when they were traveling, because Ryland used different members of the team when she battling. Tracy understood that, but she didn't think there would be any battles right now. They _had_ just beaten a gym. So what was her Trainer doing?

The wait gave Tracy time to think, and her mind went back to the time before she met Ryland. Tracy had grown up in a mansion. With her rare silvery fur, Tracy was prized as a pet even more than other Eevee. She'd never wanted to be a "pet," though (although she _did_ pride herself on her appearance and fashion sense). One day, a shady group of Trainers she now knew were from Team Rocket had more or less taken her wealthy owners hostage in their own home. Tracy had tried to stop them, of course, but she didn't have any training back then, and the fight had been pretty one-sided. It had almost felt condescending, because the enemy Pokémon wouldn't even attack her properly. No one wanted to scar the expensive shiny Eevee, or damage her perfect silver coat. She hated that feeling, the idea that she only mattered because she looked special, that she was just a pet.

That was when Ryland had shown up and turned the tables, taking on the grunts one by one until they didn't have anything left to stop her. Tracy's owners had been very grateful and offered to reward her; seeing her chance, Tracy had run to the Trainer. She had a comfortable life there, but what she wanted was adventure. Deep down, the shiny Eevee knew she had been born to be more than a pet. Her owners had given in, and Tracy's adventure had begun.

Ryland wasn't like everyone else she'd met. Tracy never felt like she was special just because of her fur; here, she was special because she was one of Ryland's Pokémon. She got scraped and bruised, sometimes even cut or burned. Tracy always cleaned herself up as well as she could, but in the end she wore the marks that were left with pride. Each one said that she didn't have to be treated like an expensive pet, that she could be as useful as everyone else. And she still looked fabulous.

She'd been sitting there, occasionally getting up to pace, for a while when the sky started pulsing with red light. Tracy immediately sprang to her paws in anticipation, her pendant swinging back and forth with the movement. Sometimes that meant a battle, but right now she hoped not. They'd just beaten the Mauville Gym, and that meant it was time to celebrate! Hopefully the signal meant that Ryland had finally reached wherever she was taking them.

A moment later, there was a rushing sound and everything went white. When the light faded to normal, Tracy found herself standing on the warm sandy shore of a wide lake. The sun was shining, but to her delight there were no clouds to be seen. _This is perfect!_ Tracy allowed herself to take in the scenery before turning back to Ryland. Her Trainer had another ball in her hand now, and with a flash, Talon the Combusken appeared next to her. Talon had been Ryland's starter; he'd been a Torchic when Tracy had first joined the team, but he evolved soon after.

One by one, Ryland sent out the rest of her team, and Charla the Butterfree, Mira the Misdreavus, and Blitzy the Ponyta appeared on the shore with them. League rules allowed a Trainer to carry a team of six Pokémon with them, but Ryland hadn't caught a sixth yet. She was waiting to find the right Pokémon, though Tracy didn't know who that might be yet. Ryland had told her several times that she was going to have her evolve, but she seemed to be taking her time deciding on that too. Tracy most wanted to be a Flareon – that beautiful coat, even larger and fluffier than her own, would be _amazing_ – but she knew that wouldn't happen, not with Talon _and_ Blitzy filling the Fire-type role on the team. Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Espeon were all still possibilities. She had a suspicion that Ryland was leaning toward Jolteon, since electric Pokémon were pretty rare. Tracy didn't want spiky yellow fur, though. That would throw off her whole look.

With all of them out, Ryland clapped her hands together. "Great job, team! The Mauville Gym was pretty tough, but you did a great job." She looked around at them all. "Sorry it took so long, but I had to get something for everyone." She knelt down and slung her bag off her shoulder onto the ground in front of her and started taking things out. Most of it seemed to be food; Tracy's ears pricked up and her mouth started watering when Ryland pulled out her favorite, a fancy rice cake wrapped in seaweed. The five Pokémon started crowding around excitedly as she pulled out more treats, and Ryland laughed. "Go on! Don't be shy, I got this for all of you!"

Blitzy arched her neck down, picking up an apple in her teeth and backing off a few paces. Tracy and the others waited, not wanting to come too close to Blitzy's fiery mane, but once she'd moved away they dove in. Mira swooped down and grabbed a candy; Charla pursued her, but the Misdreavus vanished with it. Defeated, the Butterfree flapped back down, and Ryland held another candy out to her. Talon waited patiently while Tracy picked up the rice cake and retreated, dropping to her side on the warm sand to eat it.

Tracy carefully laid the cake on her outstretched forepaws to keep it from touching the sand and took a bite. There was a tasty slice of meat inside with the rice, and Tracy enjoyed every morsel. She looked up once or twice to see Ryland smiling at her munching noises.

When she'd finished, Tracy got up again and shook herself. Some of the sand came out of her fur, but not all of it. To get clean, she'd have to go swim in the lake. _Oops. Not sorry_. She ran over to Ryland and put her head down to work the pendant off her neck. It was hard, especially getting it over her ears, but Ryland took pity and helped her pull it off. The Eevee gave her Trainer a quick lick of thanks and ran back to the lake, throwing herself into the water with a splash.

Water was fun too. Tracy enjoyed paddling around, and she marveled at how clear the lake water was. It was a nice day and the water wasn't too cold, so she paddled a little further from shore, stopping when Ryland stood up, obviously concerned. _I guess that's far enough._ The water still wasn't too deep out here, and she started diving down, trying to touch the rocks on the bottom.

It was on the fourth dive that she felt it. As she neared the bottom, there was a sort of buzz, an expectant hum she could feel through her whole body. _What was that?_ Tracy asked herself as she broke the surface. She sucked in a deep breath and dove back down. There it was again; a shiver of anticipation went through her. It seemed to be centered on a pile of rocks. Her air ran out again, forcing her back up, but she immediately returned. This time she made it out: one of the stones near the bottom was a glassy blue. Tracy's heart sped up. _That's a water stone!_ If she touched the stone, Tracy knew, she would evolve. She was old enough for it now. _Should I?_ The Eevee thought it over. She'd always wanted to be a Flareon, but as a Vaporeon or Espeon she'd fit into the team better, and she didn't have anything against either of those – in fact, she secretly admired the grace of both potential forms.

What could Vaporeon do? Tracy knew a few things about all the different forms. Some of it had come from her parents, and Ryland had told her the rest. _If I evolve into Vaporeon, I'll be able to breathe underwater and use water attacks. Ryland said water attacks won't work on me either, like fire doesn't work on Flareon. It would just make me stronger. I think she said Vaporeon can learn ice moves too. That would be cool._ Tracy took a moment to imagine surrounding herself with flowing tides and shooting water in forceful bursts, like that Lapras on TV.

A little guiltily, she thought of her Trainer. Tracy knew Ryland wanted to evolve her. She hadn't yet, though. It wasn't because she couldn't get a stone; they weren't that hard to find. It wasn't because Tracy wasn't ready either. _You know what?_ Tracy thought rebelliously. _She's taking too long. I can make my choice right now. And I'm **not** evolving into Jolteon_. That cemented her determination. Tracy submerged again and swam back down to the bottom with a determined stroke, passing beyond her comfort zone. This close, the water stone's energy seemed to pull her in like a magnet. Every part of her body felt awake; nervousness and anticipation fluttered together in her stomach. Finally, wide-eyed and running out of breath, Tracy pressed the pad of her right paw against the water stone.

Nothing happened for a moment, but then there was a jolt in her chest, like a switch had just been flipped. It spread all through her almost like another shock, and suddenly her paw, still in front of her, lit up white. She might have gasped, but energy was coursing through her body like she'd never felt it before. She couldn't move, but she could watch. And she could _feel_.

The bottom got further away as Tracy's paw grew and her legs lengthened. At the same time, her ears were shrinking and moving down her head so they could turn into fins. She could feel her tail too, getting longer… and longer… and longer. A tinge of blue shaded her vision, and a new feeling awakened in the back of Tracy's mind. _I can feel the water now,_ she realized. _Really feel it – not just on me, but around me too. How it moves_.

The Eevee's – no, the _Vaporeon's_ – glow was dying away now, and Tracy regained control of her limbs as the evolutionary energy finished its work. Life seemed to have frozen for a moment while she evolved, but it was back now, and Tracy was out of air. Her vision swam when she tried to go back up. _Water. Breathe water_. Instinctively, the new Vaporeon opened her mouth and swallowed. Instead of going into her lungs or stomach, gills opened on the sides of her neck and the water flowed back out, giving her oxygen again. She swallowed again and again, falling into an instinctive rhythm of drafts of water across her new gills that took away her need for air. Her heartbeat slowed to normal as the moment of panic passed. _I'm actually doing it. I can breathe underwater!_

 _What do I look like now?_ Tracy stretched a paw out in front of her face. Instead of the normal Vaporeon light blue, her skin was a darker shade with a hint of violet in it. Tracy immediately liked the color. It fit her. She curled her new long tail around; the movement sent her into a circle. Her tail fin was there, but it had a pattern of purple and white instead of being all one color. She flourished it back and forth a few times, noticing how it propelled her through the water.

On a whim, Tracy turned and darted out at top speed. It took a few moments for her to find her natural rhythm, but soon she was flying through the water. It was swimming like she'd never felt it before. Being in the water felt free.

She came around in a wide circle, almost reaching the middle of the lake. As she came near the shore again, something caught her attention. She couldn't sat how she knew, but something was splashing out ahead of her, in the shallows. After a moment, she realized it was Ryland. _Oh no! She probably thinks I'm drowning back there!_ Tracy turned, arrowing toward Ryland's frantic splashes. For a few minutes, she'd forgotten her Trainer would be watching for her.

Tracy made it to where Ryland was and popped her head out of the water so Ryland could see she was all right. Shock registered in the girl's eyes for a few moments. "…Tracy, is that you?" The Vaporeon nodded, and the tension went out of Ryland's movements. She started splashing closer, even though the water came up past her waist. Tracy obligingly came closer so her Trainer could throw her arms around her. "I was worried about you," Ryland whispered. Tracy laid her head on the girl's shoulder in apology. She hadn't meant to worry her Trainer.

Finally Ryland released her and straightened up. "So, you evolved into a Water-type. I guess… I guess that's all right. I didn't have anyone like that on my team, so… I guess we're looking for an Electric-type now, huh?" _I knew it,_ Tracy thought. If her evolution now meant not evolving into a Jolteon, then it was worth disappointing Ryland a little. _I'm not sorry about that part. Not at all_.

Ryland looked at her a few moments longer before turning back to land, beckoning Tracy to come along. She watched her Trainer struggle through the water for a moment, then went over and nudged Ryland's waist, turning and offering her back. Ryland got the hint and pushed off from the bottom, wrapping her arms around Tracy's neck. It was harder to swim while pulling her Trainer along, but Tracy powered through the water with her strong tail until it was shallow enough for Ryland to walk easily. She bounded out of the water alongside her trainer. Ryland went to pull out a towel; Tracy instinctively went to shake herself dry when she realized it didn't matter. The water on her was quickly drying up on its own; droplets sank into her skin and disappeared. That was useful.

She made her way back up the beach to where Ryland was and picked up her pendant in her mouth, looking pleadingly at Ryland. Taking it off was one thing, but it was really hard to get the thin cord on over her head with her paws. Ryland paused in toweling off and looped Tracy's pendant over her head again. "Thanks," Tracy said, even though she knew humans couldn't understand her. Her voice was different now, she noticed. She didn't sound so… _small_ anymore.

By this time they'd drawn the attention of the rest of the team; Blitzy came trotting over followed by Talon, while Charla and Mira abandoned their aerial game of tag to come down and see her too. Tracy smiled, enjoying the attention. "Hi, everyone."

"So, yeah," Ryland announced a little unnecessarily, "Tracy… just evolved. That means we'll need to find an Electric Pokémon now, before we face the next Gym. Are you all ready?" The five Pokémon raised their voices in a chorus of agreement. Ryland pulled out their balls and returned the whole team, one by one. Tracy was last.

"So then, since you evolved into a Vaporeon…" Tracy felt the fins on her head go down a little. _I hope she's not mad at me_. "We'll just have to find out what you can do now." She smiled reassuringly; Tracy returned the smile, relieved. Ryland patted her head, and then everything went white again.

 **Polarissb's Notes on Vaporeon:**

 _Vaporeon evolve to live in water by exposure to a water stone. They have smooth skin and powerful, finned tails, rather like dolphins. One of the first manifestations of a Vaporeon's powers is their ability to sense the position and flow of water around them. Most of the time the range of their senses is limited, but they can often detect large bodies of water like lakes from nearly a kilometer away._

 _The second of the major Vaporeon abilities is their control over currents in the water, which they can use both to increase their speed and agility underwater and to enhance their attacks. Vaporeon also have the ability to absorb water through their skin and store it in their energy (many water Pokemon can do this, but the way they absorb water varies). They can use this to fuel water attacks or to transmute their bodies into a water form._

 _The ability to transform into water is key to Vaporeon healing abilities. In clean water, wounded parts of their body will dissolve. They absorb more water to rebuild the damaged area and then reform, essentially erasing their injuries. This heals them but doesn't return their strength (Jolteon's ability to absorb electricity does the opposite). A well-trained Vaporeon can use stored water for this process, but if they are poisoned any water they release will be tainted, keeping them from healing._

 _Physically, a Vaporeon's most prominent feature is their endurance; they can travel long distances on land and even longer in the water without tiring much. They can't actually "breathe" underwater; a Vaporeon's ruff hides a set of gills on their necks that they use instead of their lungs. Since they are primarily adapted for living in water, their hearing and smell are less sensitive than Eevee's; however, their water senses usually make up for this._


	5. Helektra the Jolteon

_Helektra and Jake are OCs belonging to Diamond-Ruby-Crystal on DeviantArt._

 _Standard anime world, all pokemon understand humans  
_

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"Arca! Arca, come out!"

The eevee sighed at her older sister's voice. "I'm not."

"Come _on_! Dad's waiting for you!"

"I don't care."

"Don't _care_?" Aqua's blue head appeared over the top of the rocks where Arca was sitting. "This is your evolution, Arca, you should be excited."

"Maybe if we got to choose what to evolve into."

"Awww, come on, it's not that bad. I like being a vaporeon. You'll see, you'll like being a jolteon too."

Arca sighed. "It's different for you, Aqua," she said softly. "You got lucky, you never minded in the first place. You know I want to be a umbreon, and that's _completely_ different. It's not fair." She turned away from her sister. "It doesn't make sense. We shouldn't have to evolve into something just because of when we were born. I bet Mom wouldn't have made us."

"Yeah, well… she's not here," Aqua said. "Come on. Everyone's waiting for you. If you don't come with me, Dad'll just come find you himself and probably drag you back. Being difficult will just make things harder on yourself, you know that."

Arca sighed again. Her older sister was right about that. "Fine," she called. "I'm coming." She got up, shook her fur out, then picked her way out of the rocks to where her vaporeon sister waited. As they went back, she trailed behind Aqua, thinking. None of her five brothers and sisters seemed to care about this as much as she did. Of course, Lunar and Lea were still too young to really get what was going on, but Sol was getting older and Coal was almost ready to evolve himself. But then, Dad would be crushed if Coal, who was supposed to evolve into a flareon like him, didn't want to, or at least said so out loud.

 _Like I even care_ , she retorted in her mind. _Maybe if we got a choice, one of us would_ _ **want**_ _to evolve into flareon on our own_. By the time they got back to their cave den, Arca was fuming again, but she dutifully took her place in the middle. Aqua padded over to join her siblings spaced around in a circle.

"Arca." Dad's voice was warm. He sounded relieved too. "You came."

She looked down. "Yeah."

He slid something out with his paw – a thunderstone. Arca avoided looking at it. "Before your evolution, I want to tell you what this means."

"Long ago, as you all know, the first eevee found the stones and became eons. We took the elements and made them part of us. From the thunderstone, eons took the speed and power of lightning, and jolteon became as swift and free as the wind itself." Arca had kept calm until this point, but the last part made her bristle. _That's ironic, considering I don't get a choice about being 'swift and free.'_ The flareon went on. "This stone is for you."

Arca hesitated. Everyone was watching her. Waiting for her to walk over and touch the stone. She could feel their gazes, especially Dad's and Aqua's, boring into her. She took a step forward. Then another, and another, until she could feel a buzz run through her fur, coming from the thunderstone.

 _I don't want this_. Still, Arca felt drawn to the stone. Something inside her had been waiting for this moment her whole life. All she had to do was take one more step and touch it. She took a deep breath, more aware of herself than she'd ever been. She turned to look back at her tail as she swished it back and forth. Once she evolved, she wouldn't have that anymore. Everything would be different.

"No." The word surprised her. _Did I say that? Did I really?_ Dad looked shocked, and she took courage. "This is _my_ life. Picking my evolution _for_ me, just because of when I was born…I'm not gonna do it." She turned away. "I'm not, Dad."

He looked at her. "Arca." Dad's voice was gentle. "This is the way things are."

"No, Dad, it isn't. This isn't right." She turned tail and walked out the cave.

Dad's voice came from behind her, resolute. "This is for your own good. I'm not going to argue about it."

Arca shook her head. "Just leave me alone." She ran away, away from the cave, away from her dad's sight.

Once she was alone again, Arca found a different place to hide. It was one of her favorites, a rocky outcropping that she could only climb up to by slipping through a crack. _If I evolve I won't be able to come here either_. She looked out at the rocks and trees, still lit by the sun. _What am I supposed to do? Is this really worth it?_ Arca sighed and curled up, wishing things were easier.

She stayed there until night fell. No one knew about this spot, though she heard Dad and Aqua pass nearby several times, calling for her. She didn't answer. As the afternoon dragged on, she wondered what to do. She had a hard time getting along with Dad, and sometimes with Aqua too, but they were still her family. _It's not like I can just run away._ Eventually Arca turned back toward home. It was late, and she didn't mean to worry everyone.

She slipped into the cave, welcoming the warmth inside. Her dad nodded at her. He didn't say anything, but he didn't seem angry either. Aqua looked up as she walked in. "Hi, sis." A chorus of eevee voices joined in.

"Hi," Arca replied. "I'm sorry about running off earlier, I needed to think."

"And?" Dad asked.

Arca pushed her irritation down. "And I still don't want to talk about it. Maybe tomorrow." She turned to her moss-lined nest and slumped down in it, wincing as something dug into her. "Ow. What's—"

A rush of energy cut her off. Arca stiffened, unable to believe it. _He wouldn't_ … but he had. _Dad put the thunderstone in my nest!_ She lay paralyzed, watching in horror as her legs grew longer. Her tail pulled in until it was little more than a stub and her fur stiffened into spikes. All the while, the power whirled around, changing things inside her.

Then it was over and Arca lay on her side, staring at her yellow paws in shock. _I can't believe Dad would do this to me_. He got up and walked over. "Sorry it had to happen like this. It was the best way."

"Best way?" Arca echoed, unable to believe it. " _Best way?_ " Lightning flickered through her body, making all her fur stand up. "You—I can't believe you would do something like this." She stopped. "No. I can." Arca lunged to her paws. "You don't care about me. You don't care about any of us!"

Aqua stepped forward. "That's not true—"

Arca rounded on her sister. "Don't you say it, Aqua. If he cared, he wouldn't have _hidden a thunderstone in my nest_ to make me evolve into something I didn't want to."

"Arca…" Dad began. "I did this for your own good. If you'd just think—"

" _NO!_ " she shouted. "You know what I think? I HATE YOU!" Power flashed through her body as she screamed the words, and a spark arced from her mane to hit Dad with an electric _crack_. She didn't even care. Fighting back tears, Arca turned and raced out of the cave, aiming as far away as she could get. _You wanted me to be a jolteon, Dad?_ she thought bitterly. _Well,_ fine _. I'll be a jolteon. Good luck catching me_.

She ran on, darting through narrow gaps and racing across open areas until the sun was completely gone and it was to dark to see where she was putting her paws. The first time Arca fell, she lunged up and kept going, but the second time she knew she finally had to stop. For a minute she just stood there, paws spread wide and chest heaving until she got her breath back. As her pulse settled and the adrenaline wore off, Arca broke down sobbing. "Why did you do it, Dad?" she asked, knowing no one could hear her. "Why couldn't you just be happy with me the way I am?" Tears spilled out of her eyes and ran down her muzzle, dripping from the tip of her nose into the dust.

An image swam into her mind of a kindly, smiling espeon. Arca's mother had died after Lunar's and Lea's birth, when she'd still been very small. She didn't remember much of her mother, but she knew it had been both of their parents' idea for their children to all evolve into different forms. That was how they got their names. _Maybe Mom_ _ **would**_ _have made us evolve like this anyway_. The thought made her bare her teeth, but she was tired and it turned into a sigh after a moment. With nothing else she could do, Arca curled up on the bare dirt to sleep.

The first thing she saw when she woke up was a pair of yellow paws. That was enough to put her in a bad mood. Arca got up and started looking around for something to eat and drink. Water was easy enough to find; she heard a stream running not too far away. Food was harder, but she ran across a zigzagoon at the stream who told her where to find berry bushes. As she got up to go, it asked, "What's your name, miss?"

"I'm…" she stopped. Dad and maybe everyone else would come looking for her once they realized she wasn't coming back. _Besides_ , she decided, _I'm done being my dad's little Arca. I'm going to be me now_. She thought for a minute, aware of the zigzagoon watching her, waiting for an answer. "Helektra," she decided aloud. The name had a slightly menacing sound to it that she liked. "I'm Helektra." She turned in the direction of the bushes. A moment later, she heard the patter of paws behind her. "Follow me," she remarked acidly, "and I'll t—I'll _shock_ your ears off."

"That's not very nice," the zigzagoon replied. The footsteps behind her stopped anyway. "I just helped you."

"Yeah, well, I'm in a really bad mood this morning. Go away." She broke into a lope through the rocks and trees, leaving the raccoon pokémon behind.

Once she'd eaten, Arca— _Helektra_ —set the sun in front of her and continued traveling, leaving her family further and further behind. After what her dad had done, she wasn't ever going back. She still wanted to see her brothers and sisters, but not while Dad was around. Thinking about him made her angry again and Helektra broke into a sprint, unconsciously calling on her power to run even faster until she was barely dodging obstacles stretched into blurs by her newfound speed. The scorching pace tired her quickly, and she stopped to rest before noon. She could feel a buzzing sensation from the lightning that still flickered through her muscles; it took her a minute to silence it so she could lay down comfortably to catch her breath.

Once she felt better, Helektra set off again at a normal speed. She decided now might be a good time to experiment with her new jolteon powers, so as she left the rocks and trees behind for a flat plain she started building up electricity in herself and her fur. She found that she could raise her fur into sharp spikes with enough electricity, and when she had charged up power she could send out sparks from her mane, like she had the night before. She practiced, idly zapping the tall stalks of weeds and flowers as she passed them. Although she hated to admit it, Helektra was enjoying her new electric powers.

The rest of the day passed pretty much the same way. She ignored all the pokémon she came across, and most of them ignored her too. The ones who didn't left her alone when she glared at them and started sparking. She really didn't want to talk to anyone. By the time night fell, she was in completely unfamiliar territory.

In the dark Helektra could make out a glow in the distance. When she cocked her hears to listen, she could make out faint noises carrying across the grassland through the still night air. Maybe it was a human town; Helektra had never seen one before. Whatever it was, she resolved to check it out the next day.

When she got up, Helektra set off toward whatever it was. She found water along the way but not food, so she pressed on, enduring the hunger. By midmorning, she was walking through trees again, though it was different from the area she'd grown up in—the ground wasn't so sparse and rocky. By chance she found another berry bush and ate her fill from it before continuing on.

As she got closer, she started to see the shapes of human buildings. Dad had described them once to Arca— _Helektra_ , she reminded herself again—and her siblings, and these matched what he'd said. She made her way a little closer when a sound caught her attention—human voices, shouting. They sounded young. She crept up on them, keeping out of sight for as long as she could.

There were several human boys there. One was huddled against a tree, and the other three were doing the shouting, taunting him. "No one likes you, Jake."

"Yeah," another one added. "I bet even your mom doesn't. Oh, wait, that's right, she left."

"Shut up!" the boy by the tree yelled. "That's not what happened!"

"Oh yeah? Then what did, Professor? If you're so smart, tell us where Mommy went!"

Helektra started growling under her breath. She felt an instant kinship with the boy, Jake. _No one understands him either_. He even had yellow hair that matched her new fur.

"I hate you!" Jake yelled. "I hate this whole town!" He turned and started walking away. "Just leave me alone."

One of the other boys grabbed him. "Where do you think you're going, Jakey?"

Helektra had had enough. _That's it. You've all got this coming_. She charged out of cover. "ENOUGH!" All four boys started. Electricity hummed through her and she hit the closest boy in a blur, barreling into his stomach. The air left him in a huff, but by then she'd already turned on the others. She focused and a finger of lightning snapped out to strike the boy who'd grabbed Jake, knocking him off his feet. The third boy was already running, and the first two scrambled to their feet and followed, screaming. Helektra aimed another bolt at their fleeing forms and missed, but she was confident they wouldn't come back any time soon.

She turned back to the boy, who lay on his back, supporting himself with one elbow to look at her. With an effort, she calmed the lightning inside her and willed her fur flat again before approaching him cautiously.

"You're not going to hurt me, are you?" the boy said softly. "You helped me. Thanks." He got up and reached a cautious hand for her; Helektra took a deep breath and accepted the contact. "I'm Jake, by the way." He reached out further, working his fingers into her white mane and rubbing her neck. "Do you have a name, boy?"

Helektra growled and he jerked his hand back, staring at her for a moment. Then comprehension dawned on his face. "Wait. Are you a girl?" She nodded. "Oh. Sorry, girl. Do you have a name then?" She nodded again. "Okay. Hang on, give me a sec…" He pulled something flat out of his pocket and started thumbing it, his brown eyes scanning back and forth. After a minute, he turned back to her. "Okay. Let's see… Is it…something to do with your type?"

Helektra thought for a moment and nodded. "Okay. Like an electricity word?" She nodded once again, and he went back to thumbing whatever the thing was. "How about…Jolt. No wait, that's a boy name. Well, is it close?" She shook her head and he went on, asking her about different words. He even mentioned "Arc," and she automatically opened her mouth to respond before remembering she wasn't using that name anymore. He went on.

Finally Jake ran out of words. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "I don't know any other electric-type names. Then he smacked his head. "Wait. Is it 'electric?'" She tilted her head, and he groaned. "It is, isn't it. Let's see… Well, 'Electric?' Is that it?" Head shake. "Electricity?" Shake. "How about… Electra?"

Helektra thought about it for a moment. "Close enough." Then she remembered humans couldn't understand her and nodded.

Jake's face cleared. "All right. I'm gonna call you Electra, okay?" She gave him another nod. "All right. Wanna come home with me?"

Helektra accompanied the boy through the town. They drew a lot of odd looks, but none of the other humans bothered them. He led her to one of the buildings and opened it, holding the door so she could walk in. She did, looking around curiously. "Are you hungry?" he asked. "We don't have any real pokémon food, but I can get you something." She shook her head as he closed the door. Now that they were alone in the room, Jake suddenly turned serious. "Listen, Electra. I wanna get out of this town. You look like you're running too. I'm old enough now, if I have a pokémon then I can be a trainer. Wanna come with me? We can leave. We never have to see this place again."

Helektra considered it for a moment. _I could leave with Jake…and he seems nice. They say humans take good care of pokémon, if I got hurt or anything. And…I'd worry about him now too._ Somehow she'd gotten attached to the human boy after saving him from the bullies. She looked up at the human boy and gave him a rare smile. "I'll come with you."

* * *

 **Polarissb's notes on Jolteon:**

 _Each form of eevee excels at something. In jolteon's case, it's hitting hard and fast. Even among all the species of pokemon that have been discovered in recent years, jolteon's speed is exceptional; only a few pokemon can match or outrun it in their natural states._

 _Like many electric pokemon, jolteon attain this speed by augmenting their nervous systems with electricity, enhancing their reflexes and allowing them to think and move faster than would be physically possible under normal circumstances. Combined with their naturally agile builds, this lets them run circles around most opponents._

 _They use the same power to attack by channeling the electricity into their fur, which naturally clusters into sharp spikes when charged. Overloading in this way breaks charged hairs away, propelling them to high speeds with static electricity. The sharpness and charge make them very painful to get hit by. It takes practice for a jolteon to do this selectively instead of in all directions, so trainers are advised to be very careful when their jolteon is first learning Pin Missile._

 _Jolteon can also release electricity directly in the form of shocks. They are able to discharge electricity from any point on their fur, but the white mane around their neck appears to offer more fine control; most jolteon will launch all directed attacks (like Thunderbolt) from their manes._

 _Jolteon's high-speed, high-energy fighting style severely limits their stamina; however, one truly unique adaptation sets them apart. A jolteon's muscle cells have the ability to run their metabolic processes in reverse, using electrical energy to rebuild ATP and glucose molecules they've broken down. This is why they seem to "recharge" when hit by electric attacks. They're capable of doing it on their own power too, but it's not instinctive and usually requires instruction from a trainer who knows them well and has a detailed understanding of exactly how the process works. Unlike a vaporeon's healing, this doesn't do anything for injuries, but it can get a fatigued jolteon back in the fight in a matter of seconds._

 _A side effect of jolteon amplifying their nervous signals is that it tends to make them prone to mood swings, especially when they're drawing on their power. In battle, jolteon tend to be either aggressive or rather skittish, with little middle ground. Outside of battle, they're extremely sensitive and somewhat prone to overreaction. A lack of social interaction exacerbates the effects, so jolteon aren't a good choice for trainers who aren't willing to spend a lot of time with their pokemon._


	6. Lucas the Espeon

_Lucas is an OC belonging to hippopig21 on deviantArt._

 _Wild pokemon, AU (no humans, pokemon villages, evolutionary methods slightly different from canon)_

"Lucas! Lucas, are you all right?" Mother's shout reaches to where I'm hidden in the bushes.

I come out, shaking stray leaves out of my fur. "I'm okay." She turns her yellow head at my voice and comes sprinting to where I am, covering the distance in moments and checking me over. "Are they all gone?" I ask her.

Mother nods. Dragon pokémon have been attacking our little village for almost a month now. We don't really know why, just that they attack every three or four days. We're not exactly defenseless, of course – this _is_ a village of eons – but they keep coming, and every time more get hurt and killed. Eevee like my brother Drake and I have to hide whenever they show up, which can be harder than it sounds when shelgon and zweilous show up on the ground. A lot of the time – like this time – we're split up, finding wherever we can to lay low. I think Drake's in the village.

Done with her examination, Mother gives me a lick on top of the head and turns back toward the village with me trailing behind. Her fur is mostly flat now, but I can see places where the static spikiness hasn't gone out of it yet. She doesn't look hurt, which is good. Usually she isn't. Mother's fast enough to dodge most of what they throw at her. Father's an umbreon, so he can handle dragonbreath attacks pretty well, and they make a good team – I've watched them.

The grass gives way to a packed clay path, and we walk into the village. I notice a few wisps of smoke rising from different places as we walk past. It could have been worse. Finally we stop at the circle of stones in the middle. Most everyone is already gathered around; it looks like I'm one of the last. I make out Drake sitting next to Father, glancing worriedly around, and break into a run, leaving Mother behind.

After we've exchanged relieved greetings, we settle down with Mother and Father sitting behind us. We used to be the… well, the rowdy ones. Not troublemakers, not really. Mostly we'd just run around, and… well. Yeah. But we don't really do that anymore. There's already enough trouble in the village without us.

There's a commotion going on. Listening to bits and pieces of conversation, I can make out that Perrin, another eevee, is still missing, and more of the eons are going out to find him. Espeon and sylveon are the best at finding lost pokémon, but we only have a few espeon and only one sylveon, Cassandra, in our village, and they're already out looking. Next to them, flareon and glaceon are the best trackers, so they're going out now. The rest of us wait.

Eventually they find Perrin. Relief goes around the circle as the search party comes back with the eevee. He looks shaken, disheveled; he's moving like he's hurt, but there's a quiet pride in the way he looks around at all of us.

Aki steps forward. He's the oldest flareon in the village, one of the eight elders. "Perrin is safe," he announces. "A shelgon found him during the attack. When we found them, Perrin was fighting it, and he was holding his own. It ran when we arrived, but Perrin has proven himself today." He turns to the other elders. "We say he is ready." He turns back to the eevee. "Are _you_ ready to evolve?"

Perrin nods solemnly. "I am."

Lina, the glaceon elder, speaks up. "Then make your choice."

We all know what to do now. We leave the circle as Perrin goes to the middle; each eon stands next to their stone, while the rest of us eevee find spaces between them, filling in the gaps. During an evolution, we close the circle to show we're all one family. Perrin stands silent, eyes closed, and I have a moment to think. Perrin's only a little older than Drake and I. Barely old enough to evolve. Normally he would probably have to wait another month, maybe more, but these days everyone who can evolve and fight does.

Perrin opens his eyes and turns a slow circle, his gaze passing over each stone in turn. I follow, considering the standing stones. The fire, water, and thunder stones have elemental stones set into the sides. There're crystals set into the top of the sun and moon stones – to evolve into umbreon or espeon, you have to catch the light focused through them. The leaf stone is covered in thick layers of moss. It's hard having an ice stone this far south, but we have enough glaceon that they keep it cold even during the summer. The last one, the fairy stone, is a little different. It takes a whole day of touching or laying on it to evolve into sylveon, although it's quicker if there's another sylveon there to help you. I turn to Drake, sitting right next to me, and meet his eyes. We're both thinking the same thing: One day soon, that'll be us. We'll do it together.

There's a collective gasp from the circle as Perrin comes to a stop. He hesitates for a moment longer, then starts forward, walking toward the leaf stone with slow, deliberate steps. It's only two stones from where I sit, so I have to crane my neck in a little to follow his progress. Perrin stops one step away from the stone, pauses again, then reaches out to press his right paw against the mossy side. I've never really touched any of them, except on dares (even though just touching one won't do anything) so I watch raptly, drinking it all in and wishing it were my time already.

Perrin lowers his head. I imagine his eyes are closed, even though I can't see them. I know what he's doing – exactly what we're all taught: draw on as much power as you can and put it into the stone. It changes inside, and when you let it flow back into you, that's what causes your evolution. He's silent for almost a minute; the leaf and ice stones take longer than most of the others except the fairy stone. We wait, barely blinking, barely breathing, not wanting to miss a single sight or sound of the moment Perrin evolves. Then, all at once, no warning, the eevee's body flares white. My breath catches as I watch. First the changes are simple; he starts getting bigger. His tail gets thinner and longer, and then there's something on his head and then on his paws and then too much to keep track of at once. The light dims to green and then fades away; the whole process has only taken a few seconds, and we get our first look at our friend as a leafeon.

He turns a circle in front of the stone, blinking deep green eyes. We all say that when we evolve we'll be calm, we won't look at ourselves until the ceremony is over, but everyone always does. Perrin's tail is a leaf now, long and flat. I see green on his ears too. Not that I haven't seen leafeon before, there are seven – eight now with Perrin – but you always want to get a good look and see how well you can still recognize them after they evolve. Perrin's face is pretty much the same except the fur is tan now, and of course he's a little smaller than the rest of the leafeon in the village and will be for a while. He takes a deep breath and looks around. I notice that his eyes snap to the leaf stone first, then the grass outside the circle, then without missing a beat he turns and looks directly at a tree off to my right, almost all the way behind him. Can he sense them? From what I remember about leafeon, I think he might.

He finally stops looking around. The leafeon elder Sarah has stepped forward, waiting for him. He moves in front of her and bows his head, and she lays hers across his neck and shoulders for a moment before pulling back and saying something in his ear. Then she turns and leads him away from the circle with the rest of the leafeon following behind them. Perrin will spend the rest of the day just with the other leafeon, learning about himself and his new powers. We won't get to see him until this time tomorrow.

Once all the leafeon are out of sight, we're done. The circle breaks up, and we start talking about what just happened, like we always do. Every eon in the village evolves right there in front of everyone, but you never really get tired of watching. Drake and I discuss Perrin's evolution for a minute, and then the conversation turns to us and what we want to evolve into. I want to be an espeon. Drake says he's been thinking of evolving into an umbreon like Father. It's not the first time he's changed his mind – he used to want to be a flareon when we were little, and then a glaceon – but it's getting close to evolution, so he probably won't again. Of course, if we both stick with those, we won't be able to evolve together, since I'll have to do it during the day and he'll have to do it at night. Or maybe, Drake suggests, he could wait to evolve until right before the sun comes up and then I can at the break of dawn. That would still be pretty special, so we settle on that.

Now that Perrin's evolution ceremony is over, things go back to normal. I join in helping find the damage and pick things up. We get to one of the dens – a sort of domed hut – with a hole in the top from a dragon attack, and I volunteer to go up and weave new ferns and vines together to patch it. I'm a little small for my age, so I'm pretty light and weaving thatch is something I'm good at. All of which is good for working on a hole in the top of a den. A flareon helps me up the steep part of the den, and then I scramble to the side of the hole. An espeon starts levitating sticks up to me. I take them one by one and jam them into the sides of the hole, making a strong frame to put everything else on, and then she starts sending up the ferns and bits of vine. I start weaving them into the frame, trying to make it dense and strong enough to hold up against weather.

Once that's done, I'm passed a vine rope with a bucket of mud attached at the other end. One of the disadvantages of being small is that I can't pull it up by myself, so I pass the end down the other side and the flareon pulls it across until I can settle it on a flat spot. I start packing mud with my paws across the frame I've made, covering the ferns. The bucket empties, and I pass it down to where a vaporeon packs more dirt into it before spraying water and mixing it to make more mud. Despite the fact that I've done this a lot now, I have yet to see a vaporeon actually get muddy – it just slides off them. Unlike me. By the time the job is done, I'm a mess, but the roof is strong and I'm proud of my work.

I scramble down the side, jumping the last few feet to the ground. There's still enough time in the day for one more, so I follow everyone to a small hole in the side of another. It's at that awkward height where no one can reach it easily but the wall's still to steep to hang on to. Our solution is to bring in a rock. They find one and the espeon lifts it up a little, though I can tell it's at the edge of what she can do. It is a big rock. The flareon and an umbreon I don't know very well set their shoulders against the lightened stone and push it across to the wall before helping me climb up. This time it doesn't take so long; I just have to be careful of the gap between rock and wall.

Once that's finished, I duck my head while the vaporeon, Chris, sprays me off. He's fun-loving, like me, so I turn and shake myself dry right in front of him. He ducks and starts protesting, and I grin mischievously at him. It turns out to be a mistake, because he soaks me again. I know I'm not going to win a contest like this – he's already dry – so I run over to some bushes and shake myself off there, turning my ruff into a mass of fuzz. When I walk past, he opens his mouth like he's going to get me wet again, laughing when I duck. I figure that's all the teasing eons I can get away with for one night, so I head home.

I get there to see that Drake and my parents are already back, although it looks like we arrived pretty close together. He was helping pick things up, and Mother and Father had been running a patrol around the village to make sure there weren't any last zweilous or shelgon hanging around the area.

Mother starts attending to my fur. At her first touch, it all fuzzes even worse, trying to spike up like hers does. She starts licking at it, though, gradually getting my fur under control until I look like an eevee again instead of a fluffball with legs (as Drake described me when I walked in). We're all tired, so it doesn't take long to get to sleep.

The next day, it's life as usual. We stay alert, of course, but no one really expects us to be attacked two days in a row. It hasn't happened yet. We finish repairing the damage to the village; I have to help patch one more den, but that's all. After that all of us eevee have training with another vaporeon. Normally a leafeon named Singer does it, but he and all the other leafeon are still conspicuously absent from village life. We train with our power as well as basic fighting moves. We're not supposed to end up in fights, but like Perrin demonstrated yesterday, it doesn't always work out that way. Anyway, it's all important to know once we evolve and we _are_ defending the village.

A few days later there's another dragon attack, and another a few days after that. They're still pretty regular, and we go through the same cycle of fighting them off (or for me, hiding) and then patching things up afterward. Honestly, though, we'd be in a lot of trouble if it weren't for the fact that so many of us can heal naturally. All the leafeon and Cassandra the sylveon are especially busy, since they take care of everyone who's hurt and can't heal on their own between attacks. Both Mother and Father get hurt during a particularly bad attack. It only takes Father one night to recover (since the moon's nearly full) but they're still taking care of Mother. She's up and around, but still limping. I can tell it hurts her.

Another week passes the same way. Somehow they keep Mother from joining the fights (I have a suspicion that one of the leafeon has to knock her out whenever an attack starts). Anyway, she's finally in fighting shape again. Father is really happy about it.

And just like that, it's the next attack where things go wrong. I'm out near the forest, so I take cover in a bush, watching the dragons swoop down and blast at the village while returning thunderbolts and energy bursts shoot upwards.

Of course, once my attention is focused on the village, a zweilous finds me. Fortunately it takes its first shot at the bush to blow my cover, so I'm just startled instead of scorched. This is new. Every other time I've been pretty safely hidden. The first thing that crosses my mind is the thought that I'm going to have to do what Perrin did, fight it off. Two energy blasts and a failed quick attack later, I realize I'm dead wrong on that one. I'm going to have to run for it. The zweilous hisses at me with both heads as I turn, side stinging, and make a break for the forest.

I don't make it. While I'm still in the middle of a clear space, a shelgon comes rolling out in front of me. It stops, takes aim, and spits another burst of energy through the hole in its shell. I drop flat, thanking the legends I'm a small target. The only place left to run is the village, so I scramble to my paws and take off.

It turns out that while I was occupied with the shelgon, the zweilous decided to cut me off. I have to get around somehow, so I use another quick attack. Not on it, but in the air. My attack sends me arcing over its heads. I've never done that before, so I stumble when I land, but in a moment I'm moving again. The zweilous follows as quickly as it can, but they're not built for speed. The shelgon is another story. It's rolling after me, picking up speed the whole way. If it catches me, it can probably smash me flat. One of the other disadvantages of being small.

I manage to dodge, but the shelgon loops around, catching up from behind again. On its second time around, I break left, but it follows me enough to land a glancing blow. Even that's enough to knock me off my paws. I should just be grateful it's not worse. I get up again, a little winded. The shelgon's coming around again, and this time I run into one of the dens. It hits the wall outside hard. The whole den shakes, and bits of dried mud rain down. I run out again. Unless you can blast dragons through the opening, and I can't, a den is just a trap.

Now that I'm in the village, a salamence takes notice of me. That's why I'm not supposed to be in the village. My third big mistake of the day? My fourth? I'm starting to lose count. The salamence swoops over, exhaling dragonbreath. I only catch the edge, but it hurts. The only good thing is that it cuts me off from the shelgon for a moment. A jolteon – not Mother – races by and gives me a concerned look, but that's all. Everyone's already busy fighting, and the salamence is the most dangerous target.

By this point, the zweilous is catching up. It fires a blast of dragonbreath from both mouths. Both of them miss, but unfortunately they inspire the shelgon, which takes aim. I drop flat, but this time it's ready for me and gets me right in the back. It hurts a lot, but fortunately it's not the kind of pain that'll stop you from running, so that's what I do. The shelgon tucks its legs and starts after me again, but it hasn't built up any speed now, so I pull ahead for a few seconds.

For a moment I'm just panicking, running blindly between dens while trying to think of what to do next. Then I burst right into the middle. I _know_ there are eons here.

I'm both right and wrong. There are no less than seven eons defending the circle. Unfortunately, they're defending it against two salamence and a hydreigon menacing it from one side, which means no one has any time to spare for me and the smaller dragons I'm running from.

Then it hits me. I'm standing in the middle of the circle. _Evolution_. I could do it now. I'm ready, I can feel it. That would heal my injuries, make me stronger… maybe I could even fight them off. But I can't do that. That's the one moment I've been preparing for my whole life. The moment I planned with my brother.

My hesitation is all the shelgon needs to nearly run me over, but I do another aerial quick attack to avoid it. And by this point… I feel my heart sink. The zweilous has caught up too. The shelgon curves its path away from the fighting dragons and eons and comes to a stop. Both of them face me and start advancing.

There's no other choice now. This is it. In that moment where while we're all waiting for the other to make a move, I draw on my power. Everything I can I bring to the surface, ready to use. I wait a moment longer, and then my instincts tell me now or never. I choose now and start running, managing to dodge the shelgon's dragonbreath attack by hitting the ground again. I run right up to the sun stone and put both front paws against it, throwing all the power I have into it in a second. It's not pretty, but I'm praying it'll work. I start counting seconds. It takes a few for the energy to change.

Using it all up like that wears me out too. I run behind the stone to avoid the shelgon's next attack and immediately have to change direction to avoid the zweilous, which is way, _way_ too close. No quick attacks for me now; I run around behind it, dodging behind the fire stone and getting my hindquarters singed for my trouble. Another attack hammers the other side, and then I see the shelgon rolling to take up a different position.

By this point the part of me that was counting seconds is screaming _GET OVER THERE NOW_. If I wait any longer all my energy will be wasted, and I'll probably die right after that. I think by this point the zweilous has an idea of what I've got in mind, because it plants itself defiantly next to the sun stone. Fortunately for me, that's not where I'm going. The crystal placed on top of the sun stone focuses the sunlight, throwing a bright spot on the ground near the middle of the circle, and I dash frantically across the open space, centering myself on the sunbeam. As soon as I touch it, I feel my power there waiting, and I pull it back to me, drawing down as hard as I can. The zweilous and shelgon are both taking aim when the spark inside me flares into a nova.

The raw power locks up my limbs, freezing me in place as I start to change. I feel my paws scraping across the ground, my tail getting longer and forking, and a strange sensation in my forehead. Apart from that, the changes aren't as drastic as I'd expected, not like growing fins or spikes or feelers. Both dragon pokémon hit me with more energy blasts, but there's already so much power coming off me that I barely notice.

As my evolution finishes, the first thing I feel is an _awareness_. It's like my whole body is now tuned to detect the slightest movement. Normally this is where I'd look myself over despite being determined not to, but I don't have that luxury. Instead, I focus on myself as best as I can while watching both opponents. Minute shifts back and forth – that's all it takes now – reveal that my mane and tail fluff are gone. Even though I'm twice the size now, I feel… light. _Fast_. Even with everything that's going on, I can't help smiling.

That's when the first sensation of danger hits me, a whisper of two blasts, one to the right, one dead on. I break left just in time for the zweilous to fire… _exactly where I thought it would_. Somehow I saw it coming. I mean, I know espeon _can_ , but I didn't think it would just _work_ like that. The shelgon goes into another rolling attack, and again I sense its path on me and a little to the sides. I leap out of the way, passing out of the danger area I felt. The shelgon barely brushes my tail.

I take the chance and rush the zweilous, and another impression flickers into my mind: it's going to feint with the left head and then strike with the right. I decide to trust my new espeon instincts and throw myself at it, forcing myself to ignore the darting left head. Nothing happens, and before it can make the strike I've got my jaws around its right neck. I bite down and it lets out a shrill cry, the first sound I've heard from it apart from hissing. The left head is coming in for real now, so I have to let it go and dodge. It turns to follow, but the right head is unsteady now.

Suddenly I feel it again: The shelgon, behind me, is about to attack with dragonbreath. I break right, and the sensation shifts, now aimed a few feet in front of me. It locks in and stops moving, and I reverse direction again as the attack flashes by. I haven't even looked at the shelgon yet. I start a swift attack, surrounding myself with pinpoints of light; I'm not even sure how I do it, but I divide them into _two_ streams, directing one back at the shelgon and the other forward at the zweilous's good head. I hit the zweilous dead-on; it cries out and starts crawling away, but the shelgon spins sideways, taking the stars on its armored shell. I'm beginning to realize it's the more dangerous of my opponents.

We face off again; at least it's one-on-one this time. I feel it starting another dragonbreath attack. My senses say this one's going to be a stream, and I'm learning to trust them. As before, I start moving and the sensation – the shelgon's intent – tracks me. As it's about to fire, I feint left and the stream jerks that way just before it's actually there. I break into a run, trying to outpace it as the shelgon turns to sweep its attack across the circle. I'm watching with my eyes and my new abilities for any opportunity, because it's getting closer. Even evolved I can't outrun something like that.

There it is – a dip in the stream of power when it takes a step. I turn and launch upwards, passing right over it as the step throws off the shelgon's aim. My landing is a bit ungraceful, but in a few steps I'm back in balance as the shelgon's attack runs out of steam. _You can't touch me_ , I think, lashing my tail. _I see everything you're going to do_.

The shelgon jerks back in shock, and I realize it actually heard me; there's a strange feeling in my forehead, and I realize it's from the red crystal between my eyes. I just spoke right into its mind. Then I realize that for the first time since they ambushed me, _I'm_ the one in control of this fight. I charge.

The shelgon gets another dragon blast ready, but I know as well as it does that it doesn't have the power left for a full-strength attack. It's expecting a dodge right before the attack now, so I feint right as it's just about to fire. It takes the bait and the attack goes wide, leaving my opponent wide open. I reach it and claw at its face, the only spot exposed through its shell. I get a few nasty scratches in before it tries to snap at me.

As I draw back, it starts rolling again. It's a smart move, since I can pretty much only hit its face. First it heads away, but starts coming back as it speeds up. _Sorry,_ I tell it. _Not this time._ I jump and land on its rolling shell before pushing off again to land on the ground where I was just standing. _You can't beat me. Get out of here._

It just arcs around for another run. It's going to take more than a fancy dodge to convince it that I can do any more to it than it can do to me. If I could use any psychic attacks, it would be easy, but I've only been an espeon for… almost one minute now. I'm a fast learner, but not _that_ fast. This is probably the time to try, though. I gather up my power and focus it – nothing fancy, just a blast. As the shelgon nears, I cut loose.

From where I'm standing it looks like it just hit a wall. It rebounds off the wave of force and goes rolling over. I'm getting nothing from it but total surprise, and I take the opportunity to do it again, aiming a little more carefully this time. My second telekinetic blast sends the shelgon into an uncontrolled tumble away from me. Unfortunately it misses the rock I was aiming at, but when it gets back on its feet the shelgon rolls toward the forest and doesn't stop. That's a victory, I guess.

By this time the attack is almost over. I turn back to where the zweilous is still crawling away and use my new powers to smash it against a tree. I look around; there's not much to do now. One salamence went down, and the other dragons are gone. I get a curious look from one of the leafeon – she doesn't recognize me, of course – and turn away, heading out of sight behind a den. I wait for eons and eevee to start filtering back and join them, hanging back and keeping my head down. I wasn't supposed to evolve like this, but there's not much I can do about it now. Fifteen minutes later, everyone is either back here or in the infirmary hut. A vaporeon and glaceon died this time; I'm secretly glad I didn't know them very well. Apart from them, everyone is accounted for, except…

"Where's our son? Has anyone seen Lucas?" Mother comes running back into the circle, appearing between two houses. Of course no one has, and they quickly start making plans for a search.

I sigh, letting my head and tail droop for a moment. This is the part I've been dreading. My heart is pounding as I step forward, moving through the crowd into the open in the middle of the circle. "You don't have to go out searching," I announce, my heart in my throat. "I'm right here." I wince, waiting for the reaction. This time I feel all of it. Shock ripples through the gathered village, along with a few other emotions here and there. Drake is radiating hurt and betrayal, and I suppose I sort of deserve it. I wait as the elders hold a hurried conversation and then Cassandra steps forward.

"What happened?" Her voice is gentle, calm, but I still know I'm walking the edge of a leaf as I open my mouth.

"A zweilous and a shelgon found me. I ended up having to run back here, but they followed me the whole way. I had to evolve – they were going to kill me." It sounds like a better reason now that I say it aloud.

The sylveon nods. "Where did they go?" There's an uncomfortable silence.

"The shelgon got away." That's the bad news. Then I turn to the side. "The zweilous is over there." I feel another ripple of surprise spread from that direction, and then the crowd parts so the elders can see the dragon's crumpled form at the base of the tree. "I didn't want to evolve like this," I add, "but I didn't have any choice."

A leafeon, the one who looked at me while they were defending the circle, steps forward. "He's telling the truth. I didn't see him evolve, but he was fighting both of them here." A few other heads nod, probably ones who were here with her, and I feel a flash of gratitude. Cassandra dips her head, acknowledging them, and then she goes back to talk to the other elders while eons and eevee stare at me from all directions.

After I've spent several painful minutes waiting, trying to think about anything else, their small circle breaks up. This time Alana the espeon steps forward. She feels… all right. Not angry with me. Maybe even a little welcoming, although I might just be imagining it. She looks me in the eye before opening her mouth, and I remember that she can read me as well as I can read her. Probably better. Will I be all right?

 _Yes_. A voice – her voice – comes into my mind, and now it's my turn to twitch in surprise. I hadn't meant for her to hear my question, and it's the first time an espeon has actually spoken to me telepathically. I guess they – we – don't usually, at least not to eevee. _Now come here_.

It takes me a moment to process what Alana's trying to tell me, but then I realize: it's the last part of the ceremony. For a moment I'm too overwhelmed to move. They're not angry with me. I'm being accepted. Slowly, I walk in front of the elder and bow my head, and I feel the weight as she rests hers across my shoulders. Then she turns and walks away. _Come on_.

Even though we weren't in a group, all the espeon start moving at once, except me. There's one more thing I have to do. _Wait. There's something… Something I have to ask._ I'm not brave enough to say it aloud, so I direct my thoughts at Alana. She stops and looks at me again, waiting. _What about my brother Drake? We're the same age… we were going to evolve together. I mean… I know I didn't evolve like I was supposed to, but it's not fair for him. I owe him the chance to evolve too_.

Alana considers this for a moment, then – _Wait there_. I nod and she goes back to the other elders. There's a tangle of emotions there I can't read, and then everything calms. They've made a decision. Aki steps forward and I hold my breath "Drake," he announces, "Will you come here?" I sigh in relief as a surprised eevee makes his way out of the crowd. Drake's anger at me is mostly gone, replaced by hope, but he still sits down without looking at me.

"Drake," Aki continues, "Your brother… has shown that he… is ready." I can tell the flareon isn't exactly happy with that sentence, or with me, but I can't blame him. "He has asked that you join us today as well." At my side, Drake looks up at me for the first time. "Are you ready for evolution?" Drake doesn't say anything, just nods. "Then make your choice."

To everyone's surprise, including mine, Drake shakes his head. "Not now," he says, glancing at the sky, and things fall into place. "Tonight." He gets a nod from all the elders and a knowing look from Evan the umbreon.

With the decision made, it really is time for us to go. I'm not allowed to talk to anyone except espeon until tomorrow, even to explain things to my parents, but at least I'll get to be there with the rest of the espeon when Drake evolves. Looking back over the day, things could have gone worse. A lot worse.

Once we get outside the village, all the other espeon start talking, mostly to me (out loud this time). There are four counting Alana, making me the fifth in the village. I don't know all their names though, so I start making introductions. They're all friendly, which is a relief since I was really worried about how everyone would take my evolution. Maybe it didn't matter quite as much as I thought. Or maybe they don't care because there's another espeon in the village.

We head into the forest, further than I've ever really been, and finally come to a clearing. All the other espeon obviously know the place, and I realize this is where I'll start learning about my new powers. _Are you ready?_ Alana asks in my mind. I look around at the four espeon, and hesitantly I smile back and nod. _Then let's get started_.

* * *

 **Polarissb's Notes on Espeon:**

 _Physically, Espeon are some of the smallest of the eons; however, they have enough power to make up for it. Between their natural quickness and precognitive abilities, they're very good at avoiding damage, and they can strike back with powerful psychic attacks._

 _Espeon have two different classes of psychic abilities. The first is their innate sensitivity. An espeon's fine fur is so sensitive to air currents that they can precisely sense an opponent's emotions and intent just from the way they move, putting them one step ahead in battle. It's not foolproof, since most enemies will react if their moves are anticipated too early, and turbulent air can blind their foresight for a few moments. Espeon also have a very difficult time reading inorganic pokemon, especially those that don't have normal bodies. Certain steel and rock types like magnemite and lunatone are nearly impossible for them to predict._

 _The rest of an espeon's psychic powers are considered 'active.' These include telepathy and telekinesis, as well as other well-known psychic abilities like defensive barriers and internal focus powers (agility, calm mind, and the like). The jewel in an espeon's forehead always glows when these are in use. An espeon's active psychic abilities are exceptionally powerful, rivaling even powerhouses like alakazam._

 _An espeon's final, unique ability is that they can draw on sunlight to heal themselves. This is tied to the way they evolve, which incorporates their power, their emotions, and the sun's energy to trigger the change into espeon._

 _Eevee that evolve into espeon tend to be very loyal to their trainers. They naturally pick up on their trainer's emotions, so they tend to get very protective and caring when their trainer is sad or upset. They can usually anticipate a trainer's orders before they're done speaking, making them very strong as part of a team._


	7. (special) Zahna the Umbreon

_Hey everyone! This is a little different from the rest of the series. Zahna is the umbreon from Tyler's Search, and this happens following the events of chapter 24 of that story. It's a little different, I hope you enjoy it._

* * *

It had been eight days. Eight days since I showed Tyler to that den in the Catcher town. Seven since I'd given up on him coming back the way we'd gone. Circling around town, I'd encountered scents of a lot of Catchers and pokémon passing through in different places, so I knew he'd done _something_ , but they were all a day old already. I caught traces of his scent, but his trail disappeared with no sign of what had happened.

When I'd finally gotten back to my den, I was surprised to find a flareon and another umbreon waiting for me. They'd introduced themselves as Tyler's older brother and sister, Carson and Kara, and it turned out they were looking for him too. I think it was pretty obvious to all of us by then what had happened, but none of us wanted to believe it until our searching over the next few days made it clear that the vaporeon had vanished. Now I had a third capture on my conscience.

I asked his siblings about their experiences – what it had been like in the Catcher den, what they had learned, things like that. I was struck by how mature they seemed. I guess living captive will do that to you. They answered everything as well as they could, and I did my best not to get angry about what they told me. It was hard; what the Catchers were doing, treating pokémon like mere animals, was unforgivable. Is still unforgivable.

Finally they turned the tables and asked me about my life. I should have seen it coming, but Kara's question caught me completely off guard. I refused almost by reflex. I'd never told anyone any of my life, except… well, Tyler. Having an eevee around again had made things different, in a good way. My second chance to be a mother. I'd only shared a little of my history with him, but maybe….

I'd been wrestling with the question for the last few days. I don't share my secrets. I barely share anything. Still, though, I've realized I'm tired of living that way. And out of any pokémon I'd ever spoken to, Tyler's siblings could probably appreciate it the best. They know what being taken by Catchers means in a way even I don't. It's one of the hardest decisions I've ever made, but I decided to tell them that night.

"All right." I sighed, the sound echoing for a moment in my small cave. This was it, and I swallowed. "I guess you deserve to know." Even then, it was hard for me to actually begin.

I'd held onto my story for so long, bottled it up inside me like everything else. The world had taught me early on that it wasn't safe to let my guard down. I learned that from my own experience, losing Morn and then Will to the Catchers, and Tyler… Well, I didn't get Tyler captured exactly. But I'd hurt him. Twice. All because I cracked and let that tightly restrained pain through… It had made me strong, yes. But I wasn't sure that was what I wanted to be anymore. It cost too much, and not just for me.

A shifting sound in front of me dragged me back to the present. I looked up and met Kara's eyes, looked over her slim black-furred form. She had softly glowing yellow rings, like mine, that circled her tail and marked her head and ears. Like mine, but she wasn't like me yet. I hoped she'd never need to be. Her brother sat patiently by her, his thick orange and yellow coat drawing a warm contrast to ours. They'd lost so much, but at least they had each other.

I shook my head. I was getting distracted again, looking for any excuse to delay the moment I would open my mouth and lay bare my soul. Why was it so hard? I _wanted_ them to know, to understand. _It's the story you owed to Tyler. Do it for him_. I nodded half to myself and began, looking into the expectant faces of the flareon and umbreon who lay in front of me. The moon shone down, and I drew a little strength from it. _Night seems like a good time to tell my story,_ I thought darkly. I pushed the thought away and began.

"I guess you should know I didn't grow up as happy as you did. I'm from a place kind of like this–" I waved my tail around to indicate the rocks and dirt that made up most of the ridge "–and survival wasn't always easy. Not that my parents didn't take care of us, but we had to hide a lot, sometimes from Catchers but mostly from pokémon. That always grated on me, because I didn't want to have to stay in the den while they were out hunting. I felt like being an eevee held me back. I didn't want to wait – I had to, of course, but I didn't like it. That made it hard to get along with my brothers too – I had two of them. Since we were all in a hole together most of the time, we had a lot of arguments. Anyway, eventually we started to get old enough to evolve. Our parents started teaching us about our energy, how to use it, and all."

I broke off as Carson opened his mouth. "We started that. It was the day before the Catchers attacked us, though, so…" he looked at his sister. "We didn't learn much." _Poor things_. I'd forgotten that part.

"I can teach you more of that, maybe tomorrow," I told them, making a mental note to do that – although if they were anything like Tyler, they'd probably remind me anyway. "Anyway… well, things came to a head one day. I just wanted to get out, evolve, but my parents said they hadn't found an ice rock. I was thinking about being a glaceon, you know. I… I got into a shouting match with my parents. My brothers stayed out of it, but I was _angry_. It seems so stupid now. Anyway, I decided I was done waiting for them. The next time they left to hunt, I ran away. Never mind I didn't know where to find an ice rock either. I was done."

Both of them were staring at me now. They'd probably never imagined why anyone would want to leave their precious family behind. _Not that I don't regret it too…_ I had to take a deep breath to steady myself. "I knew more or less where they'd go, so I stayed away from those spots, headed down instead of up. Things seemed to be going pretty well until I ran into one of those predatory pokémon our parents warned us about, a haunter. I'd figured I could handle myself okay at that point, since I could use my powers for speed but also for a shadow attack – which I can teach you both if you want," I added, forestalling the question I knew was next.

Back to my story. I was starting to realize how badly I wanted someone to know what I'd gone through. "Things started off all right. It struck first, but it went right through me." I closed my eyes, dredging up the details from the fight. "After that… I used my shadow blast on it. It worked even better than I'd hoped, and I thought this might be easy. So of course, it came up through the ground after that, got me pretty good. Its claws didn't go through me that time." I winced a little at the memory of the pain. "I didn't land another hit after that, and when it came after me again I had to run. It had gotten dark by then. The one advantage that gave me was that the haunter had a hard time finding me if I didn't move. It still chased me almost off a cliff." I sighed, mentally berating my young self. _Zahna, you should have known better in the first place._

"I was trying to find a way down when I got stuck between a few big rocks. I didn't have a safe way to get out of them without falling, and I couldn't climb back up. To make matters worse, the haunter found me again, started trying to come through the rocks. I shot a quick shadow blast into the rock. I think maybe I got it, because it didn't come back for a few minutes. That gave me time to think, once it seemed like it had gone. I still didn't know how I was going to get down, or what I was going to do… well, to sum it up, I realized I'd messed up pretty badly, and no one knew where I was. I wasn't even sure they'd come for me if they did.

"I was alone. I was afraid. I was…" I stopped talking again. _Weak_ was the word I wanted to say, but the Zahna who thought that way hurt pokémon she cared about. _I can't let myself go down that path. Not again_. "I wasn't ready to be on my own. And I had to admit that to myself, that I wasn't as strong as I thought I was. I… _broke_ there." I glanced up as a tear started to form and saw the two younger eons staring again, and I tried to steady myself. Telling this story poured out all of the raw emotion from the worst moments of my life, but I couldn't stop now.

"It was awful. I was trapped there in those rocks and night was coming—I remember, all I could see was sky. I remember looking at the stars, wishing I could be anywhere else, and then the moon came out. It felt different from any moonlight I'd felt before. Like it was welcoming me home. It made me feel a little better, and then…I evolved. Everything went white, and the moon felt _so_ powerful. By the time it finished, I was so surprised I forgot to feel sorry for myself. The rocks didn't look quite so big anymore, but the haunter came back when I was getting myself out. I didn't know what to do with my powers, but I knew I was an umbreon and they came from the moon, so I looked up for a moment. It got brighter, and I could feel the moonlight again. I looked back down and the haunter left. I guess it didn't want to take me on once I'd evolved.

Anyway, I went back to our den. I felt bad about running away by then. My brothers were there and they were all right, but my parents weren't. They'd gone back out to search for me. That made me feel even worse. I couldn't decide whether I should follow them right then and try to find them that way or whether I should just wait in case I missed them. I ended up waiting there for them, but I felt weird going back into the den with my brothers, since they were both still eevee.

My parents got back later. They were exhausted and they'd been so worried about me. They might have been angry too if they hadn't been so tired." I shrugged. "And then we all went to sleep.

"Things were different after that. I wanted…I don't know what I wanted. To fit in. To have things be like they were before. I wasn't an eevee anymore. I went out with my parents, but it was different. They knew each other, what they would do. I was an outsider when I was with them. I was an outsider in the den with my brothers—bigger, stronger…" I shook my head, my rings dimming a little. "It just wasn't working anymore.

"I probably wasn't the only one. By the time I told my family I wanted to leave…well, there wasn't a lot of argument. I think my parents were still worried about me, so they pointed me to another place a little way away. That was where I met Morn."

For a minute, I couldn't keep going. As I spoke the words, memories of my mate flooded back, memories I always kept to myself, memories I only shared with the moon at night. There were a lot of things, but one image always came back clearer than the rest: walking behind my glaceon mate under the morning's light, seeing the sun glisten on his ice-blue fur and sparkle in his eyes as he turned back to smile at me.

And then there was the other memory, the one where I was laying beaten on the ground beside him, unable to do anything but watch the Catcher collect my mate in a ball and leave. The one where I could hear my son crying behind me, and couldn't even get up off the ground to go to him.

"Is everything okay, Zahna?" Kara's voice again. Everything wasn't okay. 'Everything' hadn't been okay for a long time.

But I was strong, wasn't I? I shook my head. "Morn was…amazing. He always had a smile, something to brighten my day. We found a place to live in the forest, a den all our own, had a son—just one. His name was Will. And then one day—" I shrugged, almost casual, trying desperately to not let the hurt out again "—a Catcher came. Morn and I fought. We lost." I took a moment to meet eyes with both young eons. "And the Catcher took my mate away."

"After that I did my best, to raise Will on my own. He was so young then, I felt like he'd never really gotten to know his father. I tried my best to fill that, but it was hard." Arceus, I'd missed Morn. I still do now, but it hurt all the worse when I was trying to raise a son alone. I barely knew how to be a mother, how could I be a father too? "And if that wasn't enough, one day another Catcher came. And I lost again. This time they took _my son_." I shook my head, tears coming to my eyes again, and though I tried to go on I could barely manage a whisper. "Why is it always me? I don't get caught, but everyone I try to protect does." Morn. Will. Tyler. I remembered their faces so well I could almost see them in front of me.

"That changed my life," I continued bitterly, putting the past back in its place again. "It would have changed _any_ mother's life. My family was gone. Just like yours. I'd never be a mother again. I left the forest, left everything nice, and came here, where the pokémon are strong. And I trained." A little growl escaped my throat. "I couldn't get my family back, but I promised myself I wouldn't lose the next time. That the next Catcher would pay for coming out to take us."

It wasn't long before I saw one coming down the path over there. I went out and I attacked. He had an ariados with him, it kept me from getting to him, but I did everything I could. I ended up on the ground. It came in for one last attack, and I snapped. All the pain and hurt and—and _hate_ I had for the Catchers, I poured it all out. That was when I learned about the other side of my umbreon powers. I kept waiting to be hit, but nothing happened. When I opened my eyes, the Catcher's ariados was on the ground, crawling away. The Catcher just put him back and ran. I didn't know why then." I did now. The Catcher felt it. Just the edges, but he knew exactly what I felt toward him. If he'd been closer… _he might have ended up the way Tyler did_. That thought put an end to my moment of satisfaction.

"I learned to use my hate as a weapon. He wasn't the last trainer I fought. I didn't always win, but no trainer who'd felt my power ever tried to catch me." I permitted myself a predatory smile. "That would have meant having me close to them."

"And I kept training. I lost less and less, got to take my anger out on more of their pokémon. It was satisfying, but it never lasted. I didn't know what to do but keep going. I'd lost any real purpose in life, hurting Catchers was all I had left." I looked away, out of my cave into the night. "I spent a long time like that. The pokémon around here all respect me, but I don't think any of them consider me a friend.

"Then one night—" I choked up. It surprised me as much as them. I took a deep breath and tried again. "One night, an eevee wandered onto the ridge. Sten led him here. He said his name was Tyler, told me Catchers had taken his family and he thought he might find them—you—down in that town.

"He was different from anything I expected. Catchers took my family too, after all, and look how I turned out. He did seem sad sometimes, but he was always hopeful. Whenever he talked about you, it would be about finding you one day. He kept looking forward to that." At my words, Carson and Kara both dropped their gazes to the dusty stone. I went on. "I seized the chance. Maybe I could do the right thing this time. Maybe I could teach him enough to keep him from getting caught when Catchers came.

"Maybe I could protect him."

I took another deep breath. "So I helped Tyler. I started teaching him how to use his powers, made sure he got to train with the other pokémon around here. I let him stay here, in my den, and I felt a little like a mother again. Until…" I had to close my eyes for a moment. "Until the day I drove him away."

The admission took more out of me than I'd expected, and I felt my rings fade again as unwanted tears came to my eyes. I turned away for a moment trying to blink them away. Kara surprised me with a paw on my shoulder.

"I'm not trying to – well, I _can't_ excuse what I did. It's just… I just hope you can understand."

"Wait." It was Carson. "What are you talking about? What did you do?"

The question caught me by surprise for a moment, then I found my train of thought again. _Right._ They didn't know my history with the eevee—now vaporeon. I swallowed, feeling my rings go dim. "Your brother was here as an eevee. He left… because of me. I didn't mean to, but I let my emotions get the better of me and he got caught in one of my attacks. I almost killed him." I winced. It sounded worse when I said it out loud. "It took everything I had to heal him with moonlight. He left after that. Then he came back, as a vaporeon this time. And I…I hurt him again. I hope you know what kind of a brother you have," I added. "He never give up on me. Not even after all of that." I let out a sigh. "Wherever he is, I hope he's all right. I miss him so much."

"We miss him too." Carson again. The flareon wasn't looking at me. His sister simply nodded. After a few moments he added, "How did it happen? How did Tyler get hurt?"

I shook my head, more to myself than to them. "I trained him as much as I could, but after a while Tyler wasn't happy sticking around here. He felt like he was letting you down by not going into the town, so he decided to challenge a Catcher." I let out a bitter laugh, directed again at myself. "I was _proud_."

"He came one morning, asked me to come with him in case he lost. He hadn't seen everything I could do, but I was _not_ going to let anything happen to that eevee. "I came along with him, stayed out of sight like he wanted, and pretty soon a female Catcher came along, passing by, and he went out where she could see him.

"He was holding his own pretty well. He beat the Catcher's first pokémon fair and square. The thing is, Catchers never have just one. The second one was a mareep—electric. He never learned how to deal with that kind of opponent. I wasn't surprised, I still felt proud of how far he'd gotten. But then I saw the Catcher pull out a ball.

"That was the worst thing I could imagine. I couldn't just sit there and let them take someone else, and…I'd gotten to care about Tyler." He'd been quiet, but inquisitive too. Always wanting to know everything and watching everyone with those bright eyes of his. He'd actually made me feel happy a few times. _Not right now, Zahna_. I shook my head, trying to get back to what I'd been saying. "So…I cared about him. I wasn't going to let a Catcher have him, and when I saw that ball I snapped. Tyler was on the ground, he couldn't dodge, so I knocked him away and the ball hit me instead.

"I'd never actually been in a ball before, but I knew you could break them if you hit hard enough. And I was angry. I _smashed_ it, didn't give her or her mareep any time to recover. I took it down, and then she sent out a croconaw..

"By that time I was done. The croconaw could defend itself better, even hurt me a little, so I lashed out, let loose with all that anger. The croconaw went down and I won easily, the Catcher ran…and then I turned around." I closed my eyes, trying to block out that image. It didn't help.

"I'd been so focused on what was going on in front of me…I forgot Tyler was right behind me when I let loose that pulse. It caught him just as badly as the croconaw, but he wasn't ready to take something like that. He wasn't even part of the fight." I shuddered all over again. "My pain overwhelmed him. He wasn't sleeping, but he wasn't waking up, either. He was just…in pain."

"I thought the worst moment of my life was behind me," I continued. "I was wrong. I'd seen things like that happen, but this time _I'd_ done it. He felt all the pain I had when I lost Morn and Will, and all of his own when he lost you. He told me later he was trapped in a dream where Catchers took all of you over and over again. There wasn't anything I could do for him either. He was cut off from the real world, trapped in his nightmares. My nightmares. I carried him back here. It was awful, having to watch him in pain for hours and hours. I promised myself I could never let that happen again.

"Eventually the moon came out. That was the only hope I had, that I could heal what the dark side of my powers had done with moonlight. I drew down everything I could. _Everything_. The moonlight actually burned me." That was true. I hadn't been able to bear sunlight or moonlight for the next week. "But it worked. That was all that mattered. Tyler woke up.

"After that he left. I couldn't blame him, but it tore a bigger hole in my heart than I'd imagined I had left. One by one, I've failed everyone I've ever cared about. I have to change that."

"What do you mean?" Carson asked me.

"You. Tyler got—got _caught_ to get the two of you out. The least I can do is make sure you're safe. There are things you both need to know, about being adults, about being eons, everything."

"You mean training?" Kara put in.

I had to think about that for a moment. "No, at least not for now. I…I'm dangerous. I try to be in control of everything, but lately I've been wondering if it's my powers that need control…or if it's me. I want to be done with my old life."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I still haven't figured that out. But I know I can't keep fighting the way I do." I took another look at the young umbreon sitting in front of me. "You could end up like me, Kara, if you're not careful. I don't want that to happen, so…promise me you won't use anger as a weapon."

"What do you mean?" Kara was staring at me.

"I mean, what I was talking about…" I couldn't show it to them. Even when I wasn't using it against a Catcher or another pokémon, it changed me. "Just stick to moonlight for now. We'll find ways to use your— _our_ —other powers that aren't made to cause pain."

"…All right."

"Get some sleep." I hoped the words didn't sound harsh. "It's late. Just one thing, though. I'll do everything I can for you. It's the least I can do to make up for what happened to your brother. Are you sure you want me?" I added, half to myself. It wasn't what I wanted to say, but the question had to get out. I looked away from them. "I'm…not a great mother."

We'll stay with you," Carson said. "We all know what it's like to lose our family. I don't know if I blame you for what happened." He sounded thoughtful. "But we'll be here for you too. I'm glad you trained Tyler, no matter what happened in the end. He didn't fail. He got us away from the Catchers, and you helped him do that. So thanks." Kara added a quiet nod.


End file.
